MEXT Japanese Studies (2016-2017)

[Kubus]

I stumbled into this forum by coincidence as I was looking up information about the MEXT application process for Japanese Studies students. This forum has had quite a few very informative threads about this specific scholarship in which people exchanged information and updates on their status, but I noticed there wasn't one for this year yet (or I somehow missed it). So I decided to make one myself!

With that out of the way, anyone else here applying for the Japanese Studies scholarship this year? I'm taking the written test and interview on March 10 in the Netherlands and I'm pretty nervous. Actually I caught a terrible cold last week and I'm still recovering so I haven't been able to properly study and hope to be better once the interview rolls around >_<. Oh, and for some reason I have the interview first in the morning and then the written test in the afternoon. Thought that was quite odd.

 

[mdchachi]

You're talking about 2017 school year, right? If so, I think this is the thread: Monbukagakusho (MEXT) Undergraduate Scholarship 2017 | Japan Forum

There are also several threads for 2016.

 

[Kubus]

Actually I believe the Undergraduate scholarship and the Japanese Studies scholarship are different. There was a topic for last year's Japanese Studies scholarship as well as for years before that but couldn't find one for this year.

 

[bonbonchocolat]

No, you're right, they are 2 different scholarships both provided by MEXT.
And how did you do your test, Kubus? It sucks that you catched a cold right before the test and couldn't study properly due to it. Mine was much ealier (Feb 29) and i think that i messed up a lot in the interview part. >"< The results for the test still haven't come out so the waiting's killing me though it's just been past a week.
So happy to know i'm not the only one here taking the test

 

[Kubus]

Hi bonbon! Happy to see more applicants here
I actually have my test and interview tomorrow. I'm soooo nervous. I still gotta prepare a lot of questions >_<. If you have any tips for me, please let me know lol

I hope you get your test results soon. The worst part of this thing is definitely the waiting for results. I think in previous years they announced the results of the test on the same day? Strange. How did the test go for you?

 

[bonbonchocolat]

Hi Kubus, sorry for my late reply! I don't think i've got any tips ) but i would love to share with you about my test experience.

No worries, in the interview part, they're just gonna ask some common things for the reason that they want to know more about the apllicants. In my case, it was "why do you want to study in Japan", "what kind of obstacles you've come across when learning Japanese"... kind of things. But the questions vary amongs examinees, as my friends (who also took the test) got more serious ones like "what kind of difficulties do you think you would have when first arrived in Japan and how do you plan to resolve that", "what do you expect to learn from the course", "what kind of subjects related to Japan do you learn in your current uni and how do you think about it, how does it help you understand more about Japan", "why you chose Osaka U over Tokyo", and went into very details. And since one of them has been to Japan before, they asked her to tell more about where she's been to during the time she spent there and what would she expect in living there again.

As for the written test, most of us sticked to the elementary and intermediate level. Don't worry if you can't solve all the advanced level section since my teacher said that they don't take into account that you can't do it all because that section is particularly hard!

I've heard from my sempai that Japan embassy in each country has their own way of processing the test, they do inform the results right after the test or a week after in some countries and sometimes they don't. Unfortunately, it seems that they won't be announcing the results anytime soon here in my country :'( I barely remember how i did the test but i'm still hoping for the best >v<

Anyway, I hope it help and good luck to you!

 

[Oaneyl]

Hey guys,

I was about to create this thread, but you get there first, Kubus ! In my case, I'm in France, and we took the exam on the 1st of March in the morning. We got the results of the written text a few hours afterwards, and 20 of us have been told that we nailed it, so we took the interview the same day as the written test.

And yeah Kubus, you don't have to worry about the interview, the people who interviewed me were extremely kind and nice, despite the fact that my speech was nothing but a shitstorm. They just want to know you better, they asked me about my hobbies, why I'd like to study in Japan, why I chose the universites I chose, what I wanted to study especially in Japan. I want to study sociology, so they asked me if I thought that teaching sociology in Japan is different from France... This kind of questions. If I could give you just one advice, I don't know if you do feel comfortable when talking in front of strangers, but in my case I thought it would be horrible, so I made an anxiety attack during the interview and totally failed it (I couldn't even tell the name of the university I'm studying in hahaha), but once again they have been very understanding and tried to put me at ease so yes, just take a breath, focus on why you really want to study in Japan, your hobbies, and so on, and you will nail it

Ah yes, and try to find out about the local culture around the universities you chose, they asked me some questions about Kansai (like what do you know about Kansai, why is the culture different from Tôkyô, why is it an area very important in Japanese traditional culture and so on). I was not prepared to this question (then at least not enough).

Bonbonchocolat (do you speak french by the way? Hahaha, your nickname is in french), did you take the interview in English or in Japanese? I've heard that in some countries, they take the interview in English, but in France it was in Japanese (with some KEIGO japanese what), what about you?

Concerning the results, we are about to get them in France. Actually we more or less got it already, we have been told that if we nailed both the written text and the interview and that some parts from our application file were missing, we would be recalled, and this is my case. Unfortunately they ask for my first semester school report, but I dediced not to take the majority of the exams (I didn't feel ready and in that case in our university we don't take the exams but make them up in june), I'm going to send them my school report tomorrow but I hope they won't change their mind because I didn't take the exams this semester...

Which universities did you chose? What do you want to study there?

 

[bonbonchocolat]

Hello Oaneyl, it's so nice to know us all coming from different places.

The reason behind my nickname was simply because i love how the word sounds lol. And nope, I don't speak any French except for Bonjour/bonsoir even though i'd been learning French during 3 years in my high school but since i did not have anyone to talk or practice with, now i practically can't speak any French at all :'( such a waste. But i do like French and how words are pronounced, elegant and cute both at the same time.

Agreed, all the judges are so nice, as soon as they noticed i was nervous they even started smiling. My whole interview was just like you Oaneyl, all conducted in Japanese. And mate, I understand your feeling when it comes to that KEIGO thing., when they started speaking VERY politely and you just desperately urged from the deepest part of your memory trying to find the right way to answer thus made it even worse >_<

So your uni choices are all in Kansai? I notice that many people take interest in Kansai as my friends also love Kansaiben a lot. My choices are Hokkaidou, Nanzan and Kumamoto in preference order. I prefer small cities rather than big crowded cities like Tokyo. I want to learn more about Japanese traditional culture, Japanese literature and mordern writing styles.

And hey, congratulations to you passing both the written test and the interview. You have all the rights to feel relaxed now. About your academics record, i think if they have announced that you passed then they wouldn't change their mind or anything. Perhaps the reason they asked for it is just to make sure that you've been followed your course steadily as a diligent and well-behaved student. Hardly anyone passed the exam got excluded anyway. I too, did not hand in my latest semester record as the results for my subjects were not all out at the time i sent my papers. Furthermore, they haven't contacted me asking for it either. So, that's that. More importantly, i just wish to know soon about the results as all this watiting literaturely put me in hell everyday.

Anyway, having someone to share the same concern made me feel relieved somehow, really. ^^

 

[Oaneyl]

Hi bonbon,

Yes I was thinking the same thing, it's reassuring to have someone else to talk to in such situation !

I know that feel for your french, but if someday you need to dive back into french, maybe I will be able to help you, who knows

Nope, I didn't only choose Kansai's unis, I also applied for Hiroshima daigaku ! I applied for 1/ Osaka Daigaku (so do lots of people, apparently because the uni seems to offer plenty of interesting courses in humanities, it's near Kyôto, a huge city so as a student, I guess it might be fun to live there), 2/ Hiroshima Daigaku (because I'm very interested in Japan's WWII and post-WWII history, then living there would be useful for my studies, the courses offered by the uni are damn perfect for me, and I know some people living in Hiroshima who told me it was an extraordinary city that people seem to unappreciate a bit -my uni's friends who got there anyway, told me there was nothing to do except staring at the peace dome which is totally wrong I'm sure-) 3/ Kyôto Ritsumeikan Daigaku for its humanities college and because it's Kyôto, don't need more arguments haha.

I feel you concerning your uni choices, living in Tôkyô would be too stifling for me too (well I don't know if living in Osaka would be that different but anyway). I hesitated and wanted to apply for Kumamoto uni too, but in the end I thought it would be too far away from the other "big" cities of Honshu if I want to travel a bit. I also wanted to apply for Hokkaido uni (I think it must be one of the place I would like to live in the most in Japan), but unfortunately for France we didn't get the courses guide on time for this uni, then I guess France couldn't apply for it this year or I don't know. Anyway, I think you can feel relax concerning your choices of uni, as you chose unis which are situated in little places, I think the competition won't be that fierce, I have been told that a french guy who applied for mext last year was sent to Kumamoto, which was his first choice, because not a lot of people must apply to get there actually. So I guess you already have all the odds in your favour !

Thank you but actually, they didn't told me I passed the exams. A few days before taking the exams, we have been told by our embassy that they would recall the people who passed both the written text and the interview if there was something missing in their application file. So, as they recalled me, I draw the conclusion that I passed it, but since they didn't tell me "officially" that it was the case, I'm still not sure and they can change their mind as well, since I didn't receive any official mail.

Don't you have any information concerning the results of the 1st screening in your country? On the website of our embassy, it's told that we would have the results at the end of March, but last years it used to be revealed on mid-march.

I hope you nailed it, and I hope everything is fine for Kubus too, I cross my fingers for you !

 

[mangojam]

Hi!
In my country we took the written examination in the morning (Friday March 4th) and then had the interviews in the afternoon on the same day. I didn't expect to get the results so fast, but then already on Monday I received an email from the embassy telling me I'm one of the three people they are going to recommend. But since the other two scored better than me, I'm trying not to get too excited. If any of us will be rejected it's most likely going to be me.

My preferred universities are 琉球大学, 大阪教育大学 and 大阪大学. Ryudai I chose because one of my minors is tourism studies (there is a department of tourism sciences in Ryudai, not sure if foreign students can take any of their classes though) and right now I am writing a research paper on Okinawa related tourism advertisements. We also just started to learn Uchinaaguchi or Okinawan language with my friends at uni. The other two universities I chose because, well, I too love Kansai area. I already lived in Kyoto for seven months and now I thought it might be good to get to know Osaka a bit better too. Kansai is such an important tourism destination and offers so many different options for tourism industry. Also, like someone here already noted, from Osaka you can easily access many other locations in Japan. I also really liked the course descriptions of both of these universities and have heard only good things about Osaka daigaku from a friend who studied there on this scholarship a couple of years ago.

I hope the competition is not too tight! I would prefer to live in at least a relatively big city, but that's only because I'm vegan and sometimes it was a bit difficult even in Kyoto. And Kyoto is full of vegan restaurants and shops selling foreign goods! I've also lived in Nagasaki years and years ago and while I totally love Kyushu, especially eating out would be quite difficult for me there. I missed many social events because of this even in Kyoto. :<

I hope you all get your results soon! And that we all get a YES from the Ministry this summer. :---))

 

[Kubus]

Holy snap, I had no idea this thread had become so active! I shouldn't rely too much on e-mail notification, apparently .

Thanks for the good luck wishes everyone. I had the interview and test last week on Thursday and... well I really don't know how I feel about how it went. I went into the interview mostly unprepared, because I wanted to rely on my "natural" skills if that somehow makes sense? I hope the people at the embassy appreciated that, because I know some others had prepared and memorized their answers before the interview... The questions I got were really simple, like "Why did you start studying Japanese", "Why did you choose this university", and some clarifying answers about what I wrote in my application form like how I was planning to become a translator and stuff like that. It was over in 10 minutes, I think.

I tried to answer everything honestly but I'm already regretting a few things I said (like I said that my interest in Japanese started with watching Ghibli movies, and now I'm worried they might think I'm an otaku or something...). I try not to think about it too much but I've already lost some sleep because I keep replaying the interview in my head and thinking I should've said this and I shouldn't have said that... Ugh >_<.

The test... Ehhh.. Yeah. I feel like I really failed the test >_<. The beginner part was super easy but I was having a lot of trouble with the intermediate part. I never took the JLPT and I've never done any kind of JLPT training so the grammar section caught me off guard. There were a lot of expressions in there that I had never heard of before! I had to guess a lot of it. The 読解 part was pretty tricky as well. I'm not sure I understood the story correctly. In any case, I severely underestimated the test and should've properly prepared :x.

Hopefully we all get the results back next week! And fingers crossed we all get the recommendation from the embassy!

BTW my Uni choices were: 1. Tokyo Gaidai, 2. Nanzan, 3. Shizuoka

 

[Oaneyl]

Hi everyone,

Kubus, hope everything will be fine for you. I do think you shouldn't be that worried about the interview. It's human to replay it in your head (I do the same thing) but I do think that telling that your interest in Japan has grown up through Ghibli cinema isn't a bad thing at all (it proves at least that you have a good taste hahaha). Anyway, a lot of people have got interested in Japan thanks to japanese pop culture (manga, anime, jpop, video games and so on) and even though I understand it could be poorly regarded, I'm sure they are not stupid and must be open minded enough to accept that a lot of young people (the majority?) are nowadays firstable interested in Japan thanks to pop culture, it's just a fact. Do you know how many people took the tests with you?

Mangojam, firstable congratulations for passing the first screening, it's really great, you must be so excited, it's normal ! How do you know the two other people scored better than you? What you said about vegan food in Kyôto is interesting, I'm not vegan nor vegetarian, but I try to eat meat and fish as less as possible, so I was wondering if there was some vegetarian or vegan shops and restaurants, and I'm pretty happy with what you said so thank you ! Since you already lived in Kyôto, what are the pros and cons of living in Kyôto according to you? Did you prefer to live in Kyôto or in Nagasaki? What did you think about Nagasaki as the city itself? (It's a city which intrigues me a lot.)

 

[Kubus]

Thanks Oaneyl. Basically everything you said I've been telling myself as well but I'm just a terrible worrier by nature, haha. Hopefully the embassy announces the results soon so I can stop thinking about it .

There were only four people taking the test/interview this year but I think that's normal for my country. We only have two universities where you can study Japanese here after all. I hope you get clarification soon on whether you passed it or not, but if they called you about some forms that must be a good sign!

Oh and mangojam, congrats on getting the recommendation!

 

[Oaneyl]

Woaw only 4 people ? But yes if there are only 2 ink teaching Japanese in your country that's normal. In France there were 70 people taking the test, probably because there are a lot of uni teaching Japanese in France (more than 10 I think, and just in mine we are more than 1000 students in Japanese). Furthermore, I believe that France is the 2nd country after Japan itself which has the biggest interest in Japanese culture in the world (in France there might be somewhat like a kind of fascination for Japan from some people I don't know if this is that common in the other countries).

I guess that's one of the reasons why there were that much people taking the test in France compared to some other countries.

Are there also a lot of people who like Japanese culture in your countries or is it something pretty "marginal" ?

I called the embassy yesterday because I wanted to make sure they received my school report. They told me they hadn't check yet but that they planned to tell everybody the results tomorrow (well... Today, since it's 6AM and I can't fall asleep.) Then I guess it's a matter of hours literally. Pretty stressed out right now.

Hope everything will be fine for all of you !

 

[久利寿]

Just created an account to post this!

I applied for the Japanese Studies scholarship, but not through the embassy, I am university recommended, so I applied through the university and submitted all of my documents. What are the chances of getting it?

 

[Oaneyl]

Hi,

I don't know if this is the same for everyone, but in France there are not a lot of people recommended by the university for mext, most of the time just 1 or 2 people per year (according to a relative). I've been told that there are not a lot of people selected in the end (in France we have something like 15 people recommended by the embassy, and 1 or 2 by the university). Apparently if you are recommended by the university you should have very good marks (the people I know who got recommended in this way were the best of the promotion). But it must depends on your country maybe. Good luck ! Which uni did you apply for?

 

[久利寿]

Hi,

I don't know if this is the same for everyone, but in France there are not a lot of people recommended by the university for mext, most of the time just 1 or 2 people per year (according to a relative). I've been told that there are not a lot of people selected in the end (in France we have something like 15 people recommended by the embassy, and 1 or 2 by the university). Apparently if you are recommended by the university you should have very good marks (the people I know who got recommended in this way were the best of the promotion). But it must depends on your country maybe. Good luck ! Which uni did you apply for?

Hi! I applied for Doshisha University in Kyoto to study Japanese! That is very good news! I was told by the university that they were looking for someone from my school to award the MEXT scholarship to.

 

[Kubus]

Woaw only 4 people ? But yes if there are only 2 ink teaching Japanese in your country that's normal. In France there were 70 people taking the test, probably because there are a lot of uni teaching Japanese in France (more than 10 I think, and just in mine we are more than 1000 students in Japanese). Furthermore, I believe that France is the 2nd country after Japan itself which has the biggest interest in Japanese culture in the world (in France there might be somewhat like a kind of fascination for Japan from some people I don't know if this is that common in the other countries).

I guess that's one of the reasons why there were that much people taking the test in France compared to some other countries.

Are there also a lot of people who like Japanese culture in your countries or is it something pretty "marginal" ?

I called the embassy yesterday because I wanted to make sure they received my school report. They told me they hadn't check yet but that they planned to tell everybody the results tomorrow (well... Today, since it's 6AM and I can't fall asleep.) Then I guess it's a matter of hours literally. Pretty stressed out right now.

Hope everything will be fine for all of you !

Wow, 70 people? That's a lot! Seems France is far ahead of the Netherlands when it comes to Japanese studies. I wonder how many universities teaching Japanese there are in Germany. I've heard before that France is one big Japan-loving country and that anime and manga is super big over there. So maybe it's no wonder that there are so many French people studying Japanese . Here in the Netherlands I've certainly noticed that that kinda stuff is gaining popularity at a fast rate but I don't think it compares to France or Italy for example.

Btw did you get the results by now? I still haven't heard back yet. I'm almost confident that I'm not getting the recommendation, but it's killing me on the inside that I still don't have any confirmation. What if...!

 

[Oaneyl]

Yes Kubus, in France a lot of people are fired up about Japanese culture, that's why. Nope, I didn't get the results. The embassy told me more than 10 days ago that they were going to tell us the results "tomorrow", but I'm still waiting for it. I keep on refreshing my e-mail inbox and checking in my letter box but, still nothing. Do you know how they tell you the results? They asked us to send them an envelop with our application file, so I guess we will get a letter but I'm not sure...

 

[Kubus]

Argh, that must be frustrating. I e-mailed the embassy last week and asked about the results, but I didn't really get an answer to my question. So I'm also in the dark about when and how we will get the results. Thankfully it's not constantly on my mind anymore. It's getting annoying taking my phone with me everywhere I go (even inside the house) with silent mode disabled because I'm so afraid I'll miss a phone call from them. Though they'll probably just send a letter .

Keep us posted when you hear anything! I'll do the same! And fingers crossed for all of us

 

[Kubus]

So sorry about the double post, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I received a letter from the embassy today saying I have been "tentatively selected as a candidate"! It's up to Japan now to decide if I get the scholarship.

I'm so relieved but now the true wait begins :x. Hope everyone gets their results soon as well!

 

[久利寿]

So sorry about the double post, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I received a letter from the embassy today saying I have been "tentatively selected as a candidate"! It's up to Japan now to decide if I get the scholarship.

I'm so relieved but now the true wait begins :x. Hope everyone gets their results soon as well!

I did not go through the embassy, I went through the university, who wanted me to apply to the Japanese Studies scholarship. The university told me that the results may be late this year and last year results were released June-July. What chance do I have of getting this since I was the only candidate recommended from my school?

 

[Oaneyl]

Yo, I don't know, it depends on several things: did you choose the uni you want to study in? Or is it Japan which has to choose for you instead? I guess it depends on how many people are recommended from the university all over in your country, not only in your school. However, if you're the only one in your school it's a good thing anyway. I don't know how good are your marks, but if they are good, you don't have to worry that much I think.

OMG Kubus congratulations !! You must be so relieved right now. I don't wanna give false hope to you, but I've been told that the must difficult was the first screening. Once you've passed the first screening it seems that you're almost sure you are going to go to Japan. In any case, in France it has been years that nobody has been excluded after the first screening and even though the selected candidates were anxious as well, everybody went to Japan in the end. Then I think you can relax right now ! Congratulations anyway that's great. As for me, I'm still waiting for the answer -__-.

 

[Okami777]

Hey guys!
I'm from Costa Rica, I passed the first screening, I didn't do it so good with the test but I was told the Embassy loved my interview. It seems like they are sending the documents to the MEXT next week, It's gonna be long wait my friends, I hope we all get accepted

 

[Oaneyl]

Hi Gabrig ! I'm happy for you that you passed the first screening, congratulations ! Which uni did you apply for? What would you want to study there?