Hello everyone!
I know that everyone (including me) is worried about the second screening and about wether the slots for the scholarship can be reduced last minute.
However, I would like to bring some positivity to this thread as according to the embassy in my country and in some others - places had been already reduced before the application process started. And as the budget for 2021 was already decided at the time of application, there should not be any additional cuts. Also, as someone has already mentioned, many countries couldn't hold exams and interviews due to corona so those slots are empty as well. Furthermore, the application for Nikkensei (Japanese Studies scholarship for 1 year) has started this month - and I think if they actually wanted to cut their expenses they just wouldn't open the application for this program at all.
Of course, I cannot guarantee anything and this is purely my vision of the situation, but I am pretty confident that we are all going to be fine