This year there were only four applicants that made it to the test/interview stage including myself. All the other applicants were really cool and gifted and I wish them all the best! I was the only STEM applicant out of the four of us, while the other three were in fine art/art history.
The Japanese language test was...very difficult. I'm fairly certain I passed the elementary section, the intermediate section is a toss-up, and the advanced section I literally guessed on everything! Interestingly enough, the reading comprehension portion for the advanced section was easier than the reading portion for the intermediate section, but I ran out of time and ended up guessing on basically everything in the advanced section.
The English test was easy-peasy (if you're a native speaker), though you could tell the test was clearly not designed by a native speaker. There were some questions to test your grammar that included phrases that nobody would ever say or write. I think we all finished the English test before the limit.
We were told our tests would be graded during lunch and they would let us know by email whether or not we would get an interview. All of us ended up getting interviews (yay!), and I was up first.
The interview panel consisted of the MEXT Scholarship Coordinator, a Japanese man (I assume is high up in the consulate, but I wasn't told what his position is), and what I assume to be a science expert. I think I really lucked out this year because I think the interview was very fair. After talking with the other applicants, we agreed that the interview did not seem nearly as severe as other people had experienced. I did not have anyone try to discredit my research, or try to trip me up. The science expert posed the most difficult questions (although none of them pertained specifically to my research proposal). He clearly understood my research proposal and mentioned that it seemed like I wanted to run my own lab in Japan. He said that in this scholarship I would not necessarily be able to perform my research, but that I would most likely join a professor's lab and work on whatever he is working on. I answered saying that I understand that that's how it would most likely work, and that even if I would not be able to work on my proposal, the important thing is that I would be working with a professor that is an expert in the field, and that I would be able to learn all the skills, techniques, and etc. to perform my own research some day.
All of the other questions were some of the typical questions you would expect from this sort of interview. I think I was able all the questions well. I'm surprised that they didn't ask me to speak Japanese during the interview. Actually, none of the other applicants had to speak Japanese in their interviews. That really surprised me because in their fields, most classes are taught in Japanese. I'm lucky because there are STEM programs in English in Japan. They did ask me how I learned Japanese, and I think they were very impressed that I had reached the level that I had by studying on my own.
After the interview I was told that I would likely know the results of the interview in a few weeks. I guess starting last year the system changed a bit, and the consulate needs to hear back from DC and Tokyo before they tell us the results of the interview or something like that. I didn't fully understand, but the next day I received an email saying we could expect results by early July (so hopefully by the end of next week!).
Hope this helps, and good luck to everyone!