The MEXT Japanese Studies Scholarship is intended for U.S. undergraduate students to study Japanese language and culture at a university in Japan for one year. It provides airfare to Japan, tuition for the university, and a stipend for cost of living for one school year. In addition to the information listed on this page, all applicants are responsible for reading and following the instructions in the 2023 MEXT Japanese Studies Scholarship Application Guidelines.

Applicants must be undergraduates at a foreign (non-Japanese) university at the time of arriving in and leaving Japan and must be majoring in a field related to the Japanese language or Japanese culture.

• Must have U.S. citizenship and reside in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, or Washington State.
• Must be able to travel to the Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle for the First Screening and to obtain visa prior to departure.
• Must have been born between April 2, 1993 and April 1, 2005
• Must be an undergraduate student majoring in fields related to Japanese language or Japanese culture.
• Must have studied Japanese Studies at a university for a total period of one year or more as of September 1, 2023.
• Must return to home country and continue to study at their home institution immediately after the end of the scholarship period.

Knowledge of Japanese Language

Applicants must have Japanese language ability sufficient for receiving education at a university in Japan.

• freshman
• sophomore
• junior
• senior

• US Citizen

Applicants must carefully read the Application Guidelines before beginning to prepare their application packet. Applications submitted with incomplete information or documentation will not be considered, so please carefully review that all required forms and documents are completely filled out and submitted together. A checklist of required documents is provided in the Application Guidelines.

All required documents should be included in a single envelope and mailed to:

Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle
ATTN: Education Desk
701 Pike Street, Suite 1000
Seattle, WA 98011

Since 1954, the Government of Japan has been offering scholarships to foreign nationals from various countries around the world to study in Japan. The Japanese Government offers the following scholarships annually to U.S. citizens living in Washington, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Alaska through the Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle.

Questions: Please contact Mrs. Maggie Thorpe at maggie.thorpe@se.mofa.go.jp (Email only until further notice).