Questions about JASSO scholarships

Hi guys,

first of all I wanna apologise in advance for my poor English: the more I'm trying to study other languages, the less I'm able to speak in this universal lingua-franca.
Well my name is Michele, I'm from Italy and I have been to Japan two year ago as an exchange student from my university [University for Foreigners in Perugia] at Kansai Gaidai.
After that I came back to Japan for other two times as a tourist and I'm still trying so bad to go back and study there.
My last hope is: pay for my own education at Kyoto Gaikokugo Daigaku. Well since it's something I can afford, I won't complain about anything but, you know, money sometimes are useful as well. That's why a friend of mine told me that when he was at Kansai Gaidai, he used a scholarship from Jasso and he suggested me to have a look at their website. I actually surf trough their webpages but seriously, I've never seen such a messy website and I didn't get how to apply for their scholarships.
So I was wondering if someone could be so kind to explain me where should I go, what should I do, if scholarships are available for anyone or just for certain schools and so on.
Again I'm deeply sorry for my English.

Thank you

Doubts?
Your thread title shows your strong distrust about JASSO at all, yet you want the scholarships information they provide...?! :? Anyway;

Top page (in English)
独立行政法人日本学生支援機構

Click the menu "Study in Japan" at the top to go to "Information on Study in Japan" page, and there "Scholarships" is on the page.
独立行政法人日本学生支援機構

If you click "Scholarships for International Students in Japan" you'll get further information.

I was actually expecting more like some personal experiences/suggestions about this scholarship, because as I've already wrote in my first post, I still found the website so confusing and I've already read those pdfs (by the way, they still refers to 09/10) but still no ideas what I should do.
Anyway thank you, I'm gonna try to figure it out by myself in some ways and please feel free to close/erase this thread if it's burden to someone

omochiwokudasai said:

I actually surf trough their webpages but seriously, I've never seen such a messy website and I didn't get how to apply for their scholarships.

Click to expand...

Sorry but it was very hard to understand that you've already read the pdf files on that web pages and now looking for personal experience/suggestions.
Maybe you can ask one of the moderators to change the thread title to "Questions about JASSO scholarships" so that JREF members can get the right message and give you more appropriate answers.

As you said you've already read the pdf files, I'm very much sure you've already read this one which shows qualifications and how to apply very clearly but I'm quoting just in case you've missed it.
独立行政法人日本学生支援機構
Everything is explained neatly just in one page.

II. Scholarships by JASSO
1 Honors Scholarship for Privately Financed International Students

(1) Qualifications and Description
The qualifications for applicants and financial aid are shown as follows.
The qualifications do not include the age limit, designated Japanese schools to attend nor designated courses to major in Japan.

(2) How to apply
Applications for the Honors Scholarship for Privately Financed International Students will be accepted through universities, junior colleges, professional training colleges, colleges of technology or university preparatory course which applicants attend in Japan (hereinafter referred to as "schools"), submit it to their schools to have them recommend to JASSO that they are qualified to receive an Honors Scholarship. The applicants must contact the schools to confirm the application procedure.

Click to expand...

The above answers your two main questions.

omochiwokudasai said:

if scholarships are available for anyone or just for certain schools

Click to expand...

(1) clearly sates that there's no limitation of the schools you attend - so any university you go, you are qualified to apply as far as your monthly allowance from family is under JPY90,000 and annual income of your finance supporter is under JPY5,000,000, etc. (See the details shown under "Others" of qualification.)

omochiwokudasai said:

where should I go, what should I do,

Click to expand...

(2) explains that application must be submitted through the school you're attending, which means you need to be a student attending a school in Japan.

If you intend to go to Kyoto Gaikokugo Daigaku and pay the fee by yourself, you'll be a privately financed international student.
So the answer is become a student of Kyoto Gaikokugo Daigaku first, then apply for the scholarship through the university.

My home university applied for JASSO for me. I don't know if that helps you, but you don't have to apply once you are in Japan; you can apply before.

Half-n-Half said:

My home university applied for JASSO for me. I don't know if that helps you, but you don't have to apply once you are in Japan; you can apply before.

Click to expand...

Thanks Half-n-Half, I overlooked about the exchange students - in that case, one can apply through one's host university, but it is on conditions that the school (Kyoto Gaigo Daigaku in case of the OP) has submitted the yearly exchange student plan to JASSO.
OP should ask his university (University for Foreigners in Perugi) about JASSO scholarship then.

独立行政法人日本学生支援機構
See "3 JASSO Exchange Students Support Program" for details.

undrentide said:

If you intend to go to Kyoto Gaikokugo Daigaku and pay the fee by yourself, you'll be a privately financed international student.
So the answer is become a student of Kyoto Gaikokugo Daigaku first, then apply for the scholarship through the university.

Click to expand...

That sounds interesting: thank you!
Anyway, today I went to my university's exchange-program office and they told me that since I'm going to Japan by paying fees by myself, they cannot help me out.
So I guess all I have to do is:
1] Arrive in Japan
2] Go to Kyoto Gaidai's offices
3] Ask for their "support"
4] Fill in the Jasso's application form
5] Be patient and hope I can get the scholarship

Does it make sense to you?
Anyway I didn't want to seem rude or overweening: unfortunately this entire Jasso thing is really complicated and I'm still not able to figure it out
Sorry for the late response and I hope the list I wrote makes sense to you

Sorry for reviving old post. But just to clarify that JASSO is not dodgy although that their homepage is really cluttered. I'd studied under their Japanese school in Tokyo and living in their dorm. They offer scholarships and provide other scholarship info from other organizations. Some scholarships are a one-off payment and some are monthly. There are high chances to get it if your japanese is good, been accepted to a university and that you have very little allowance/in need of financial aid. Good luck!

It's a bit late to do so, but I have followed Unrentide-san's advice and changed to thread title. For reasons unknownst to me, this thread is currently the most-visited JREF discussion in the search engine results.
:?