sample research proposal for mext scholarship

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Proposal Writing in MEXT Scholarship Application (Postgraduate)

Proposal Writing in MEXT Scholarship Application (Postgraduate) Lai Hung Wei Updated in December 2022

There are generally two types of MEXT scholarship for postgraduates, the typical embassy-recommended route and university-recommended route. Personally, I think both have respective pros and cons; for university-recommended route, one needs to have a much clearer view on your research proposal and at least a targeted laboratory of an institution due to the need of a preliminary interview/discussions with your potential supervisor. Unlike embassy-recommended route, not all institutions offer this application route and the number of successful applicants is also much lesser.

There is already plenty of guides on how to apply for a MEXT scholarship. Therefore, I will be focusing on proposal writing during MEXT scholarship application in this post (Life Science). Although proposals are generally written in English, it can be written in Japanese if you are feeling confident. Please be noted that the proposal format may change in the future, so this is generally for your reference.

1. Present field of study

This section requires the applicant to write on their current field of study, which is the first evaluation on the scientific capability of the applicant in his/her current research. Write an abstract on your current research field. Be sure to mention the title. Start off with background and problem statement of your current research. Then, move on to the aim and objectives, followed by results and discussion section. Lastly, end the proposal with a conclusion and future considerations. If your research is still not complete, write down the expected findings and conclusion. Include some figures or results if allowed. Inclusion on some of your academic achievements may be helpful as well.

2. Research theme after arrival in Japan

Write down the theme of your proposed research in Japan. You may include some background information on the theme, write down some of the currently faced problem in the field and how you intend to overcome them.

3. Study Programme in Japan in detail (Study/Research Proposal)

This is perhaps the most difficult part of all. First, you need to come up with a research proposal which is relevant to your potential laboratory in Japan. Prior discussion with the potential principal investigator (PI) is highly recommended. Please be sure to allocate adequate time before the application starts. Similar to the present field of study above, you need to write in detail on background, problem statement, aims and objectives, results and discussion and conclusion for your proposed research. Writing what is the speciality of your proposal (how important it is) and possible contribution to the community (how your research findings can help) would be an added advantage.

The preparation of a good proposal will require (1) vigorous reading and creativity by yourself; and (2) consistent discussion with both current and future PI as well. It is not an easy task, but it will definitely be worth it. All the best and good luck in your application!

Louis Lecailliez

Développement Windows Phone et chinoiseries informatiques

MEXT Graduate Scholarship: Research Project (3/3)

Finally, here’s the post about the most important part of the application: the research project. There is multiple difficulties to writing it, one pertaining to the format, the other one to the content.

Format of the proposal

The first issue is to understand how the proposal is physically structured. Two documents are required: one named « Field of Study and Research Program Plan » (FSRPP) and another you have to write yourself on a blank sheet (let’s call it BSRP). The FSRPP contains three questions and it doesn’t help that the last two of them are quite similar. Compare Your research topic in Japan: Describe articulately the research you wish to carry out in Japan vs Study program in Japan: (Describe in detail and with specifics — particularly concerning the ultimate goal(s) of your research in Japan) . Because they are so similar I treated them a one question, but put emphasis on details in the second one. However, I would recommend you not to start with this sheet, actually. The fact is, you can fill it quite easily after you write a sound research project. And this is exactly what is asked for the BSRP.

What is a research proposal?

Research proposal is a short description of the subject you intent to tackle, the methodology to carry it and the expected results. It should include context and explain why it matters. After all, you’re asking for money and people/organizations want to spend their money wisely. Moreover, it should be understandable by non technical people (most reviewers of your proposal won’t be scientists) but still shows you know your shit.

Let’s look at some example. It found this proposal on the web and anonymized it. Its author asked for feedback, so here is my feedback.

Study Field Example

Do you understand what its author want to do?

I don’t. And it is the third or fourth time I read it. What is clear is that the author doesn’t really know more than us. There isn’t even the embryo of a research project in there. It is an example of what would lead to direct rejection. Indeed, he was rejected after tests and interview.

What not to do

Biggest errors here (no particular order): A) He doesn’t seem to master anything in his field. Even if he applied for a master level scholarship and thus couldn’t really know how to do research, it’s clear his proposal was not readed by any academics for correction.

B) He doesn’t say which problem he wants to solve . « The continued research into metallurgy is of grave importance for any country that wants to be one of the leading countries in the field as it is a field that grows with an exponential speed right now with all from making alloys that we didn’t thought was possible before to ways of production we couldn’t imagine before, I want to be part of this journey and do all I can to help it along. » It doesn’t inform the reader about anything nor what he wants to do. Every field is progressing fast these days. Also the sentence is too long.

C) Next sentence « The reason why I want to do this in Japan is to accumulate the knowledge of two of the leading countries, Sweden and Japan, when it comes to metallurgy to be able to drive the development forward and bring both countries research communities closer together be the dominant forces in the industry. » Yeah, ok, you’re supposed to say that you will bridge a gap between two countries, but you aren’t supposed to say it that directly. Moreover with no concrete way to achieve it in the slightest fashion, it just seems like empty talk.

D) Me, me, me . Look at how many « I » and « I want » there is. This is a one stone two birds mistake: first the scholarship is not only about you. It is in the end how Japan earn something by supporting you through funding. Secondly, Japanese culture tend to lower the individual vs the group. So try not to be too self-centered in your proposal; put the accent on your project instead.

E) Citing professors in Sweden. Hey, Japanese not only doesn’t know them but they don’t care either . If you want to interest them, speak about Japanese professors . They will know them and/or research about them. In addition, it demonstrates (1) you did your homework of finding professors in Japan and (2) your project is related to Japan. If Dr Foreigner, PhD is the worldwide expert on something, why not studying under him instead of Japan?

I cannot emphasise this point more. Japanese professors are the key to your application. I didn’t speak of them directly in my written application but mentioned them during the interview. One jury member told me something around this line: it is good you speak about the prof in your presentation, because it was missing in your application. So it is a very important point.

F) Timetable. This is internet bullshit advise. In addition the jury don’t want to know the class you will take (you’ll go for research, earning a degree is more like a side effect). In that document, putting everything related to the field in a big list showed more that he doesn’t master anything about his domain. Of course, you can show that you’re willing to learn things that you don’t know yet, but it should not sounds like you don’t know anything either.

Not writing a timetable was advised to me by a Japanese professor. If you can find one, whatever his field is, ask him to have a look to your proposal. He will read it with his Japanese-eyes, process it with his Japanese-brain and give you a Japanese-advice. It can’t hurt you because you’re applying to do Japanese-research in the Japanese-country.

E) References not found! Hey dude, you’re applying for a research scholarship . What make something immediately research y ? References, you named it. Your proposal must include some bibliographic items, not only to make it looks serious but also to ground it in the current research landscape.

Don’t do it alone; ask for feedback

Let’s speak frankly, your project need to be reviewed otherwise you’ll likely make big mistakes. The more the better. Find an English native speaker or a friend better than you in English and make him check the language of your final proposal. Ask your current professors about the soundness of your project. Make them read your proposal. Make your friend majoring in History of Art read it. If he don’t understand it, rewrite it so he could get the gist of it. A random people should be able to understand basically what you want to do and be enthusiastic about it.

You don’t need the proposal to be written yet. Speak about your ideas. If you can’t express your project in two/three sentences, it’s a red fag. Then put more thought on it. It is an iterative process.

Thanks to feedback I ditched an entire project . It was not easy. I spend months on that idea, it was the following of one of my master thesis, but it wasn’t good enough. So I thought about why I wanted to do that project, extracted the motivation behind it and wrote a brand new proposal from scratch. I read a lot of papers to valid my intuition and find something that haven’t been done before. This was a lot of stress in particular because I started running out of time. But I did it and I’m glad I changed project because the other one would have failed. So, it leads us to the next point.

Start early and take your time

This scholarship is hugely time consuming and to some extend sanity crushing. So, start really early, like a year before the year you want to apply. It mean if your project is to got in Japan in 2020, start working on it in 2018 so you can apply on the 2019 recruiting session. You’ll need a lot of time to fill the paperwork and 10 times more to write a good project. Especially the paperwork is really annoying so get them as soon as possible to avoid last minute problems with printers or the administration.

Actually, I made it this as far as to take a year off and live on social welfare (btw, I don’t advice you to do that, high level autism skill is required to live without speaking with people for weeks and without a structured schedule). That wasn’t totally easy especially because some people didn’t understood that choice and were against it. But I known that I needed my full attention and the liberty to travel at anytime, which was not compatible with having a job. And indeed this liberty was used more than once because I traveled two times within France to meet professors (the second meetings led to my project rewrite), once to Japan again were I spoke with multiple professors and attended an international conference and multiples times to Paris for documents, languages tests (the embassy one and the JLPT) and the final interview. It also cost some money, so I advice you to take that in account and save accordingly if this is a problem for you.

Of course, you probably don’t need to take a year off especially if you have academic support in your current institution. But be prepared to work a lot on your application if you want to but successful.

A good proposal example

Let’s now have a look to a good proposal. It’s mine and I got embassy recommendation with it.

My Research Proposal

First, notice the formatting of the document. Each subsection has its own header. Every section is at most two paragraphs long. The document starts with the research problem to solve and ends by a list of references.

Now, look at the Context section. It serves multiples purposes: (1) demonstrating my knowledge of the field, (2) exposing technical words and concepts that will be used later on, (3) explaining what the field is about.

The intended approach section explains how I plan to achieve to solve the stated problems. It is an important part because you should demonstrate that your research is achievable and that you can pursue it.

The details section could have been named buzzword instead. Contrary to the other parts of the document, this one is more targeted at specialists. It is here to show some technical expertise by using key words from the field (client-server, algorithm, shell) with some trendy words added (clustering, which is a machine learning technic) for good mesure. Of course, they are used in a way that it make sense, I wasn’t writing some parody of a GAFA newest press release.

Finally the impact section details in layman terms what is the expected, concrete and long-term effect of the research. This is the only part were I allowed myself to write trivia (e.g. In a world globalizing more quickly than ever ) and some far-fetched implication ( smoother international business and relationships ). This is the sell dream section. Everybody should be able to understand it, and moreover to find something attractive to it. Here people, governments and businesses have one of their concern addressed.

Of course, don’t copy my proposal . This is not a 100% pass method so don’t copy every section, the whole structure or anything literally. You should take some inspiration but write your proposal in your own way. The main point is to write something appealing and understandable by a wide audience that is properly structured.

Back to the Field of Study and Research Program Plan

One you wrote a proposal that way reviewed by multiple people, you can wrote the document 5 of the application. Here is mine .

The present field of study question is the easiest to answer. Just put down the best keyword(s) to describe your field. I choose to a do it in a hierarchical fashion so people could understand the relation to my degrees. I advice to do so if your speciality is not well known. For instance: Mathematics, Algebra, Group Theory instead of just Group Theory . If you wrote your bachelor/master thesis or papers related to this field, write them below to show some expertise.

Question 2: Your research topic in Japan

Once you wrote your full proposal, answering this question should be easy. Just take your main ideas and rewrite them as paragraphs of two/three sentences. Notice how I make use of headers again and how the first sections (Context, Issue, Research Questions) are actually the same as in the proposal (Research Questions, Context, Problems) in a different order. Of course, you don’t have to proceed in the same exact way, but at this point your application must show congruence: don’t raise questions that won’t be in the full proposal.

Question 3: Study program in Japan

It looks like the same, but the parenthesis in English and the Japanese instruction speak about details. The Japanese mention another important word: 具体 (gutai) which mean concrete. So this is the section where so should give details on how your project will be done, were and with who. In this part I gave information that are not in the research proposal per se .

Writing the proposal is hard because it must be short. Everyone can write a ten pages proposal, but writing a compelling one in two pages is way harder. It is an iterative process, you can’t write something meeting the passing bar on your first try without any review. Produce intermediate documents if it helps (personally, I wrote a one page draft in French to send it to some prof to gauge the water). And start early.

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1 réflexion au sujet de “MEXT Graduate Scholarship: Research Project (3/3)”

Merci, Louis! I plan to apply for a master’s program for 2022 and I have been reading a lot about how to approach the field of study and research plan part of the MEXT scholarship application. Your blog was quite easy to follow and clear. It also helped me greatly that your field of study is similar to mine, so I could better understand how to structure it.

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MEXT Scholarship for 2025 Embassy Recommendation

Application for Research Students - Embassy Recommendation

Embassy recommendation procedure.

Recruitment for those arriving in Japan in April 2025 or September/October 2025 is made between April and May of the previous year. First screening is conducted between May and July by the Japanese Embassies or Consulates General. As the application process and specific schedule differ according to the country of your nationality, please inquire the Japanese Embassy or Consulate General in your country for details. DO NOT send any application documents directly to MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) in Japan.

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Documents for Application - Embassy Recommendation

Applicants MUST read through the Application Guidelines below and follow the instructions. Application Forms along with Certificate of Health, and Recommendation Letter should be submitted to the Japanese embassy or consulate general in your country. These documents can be printed out and filled in by hand-written, typed out, or filled in with software applications and printed out.

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Asian Salad

My research proposal for mext (monbusho) scholarship | july 28, 2010.

sample research proposal for mext scholarship

Asian Salad has so far been a mere dumping ground for my random thoughts. The content, for that reason, made absolute no use for my readers. So, in an effort to broaden my readership, I decide to start writing some “how-to” or “know-how” articles which hopefully can connect me to people that I don’t know but nevertheless, should meet.

And here is a short perface for the following article: I have been awarded to MEXT research scholarship through the university recommendation by Todai. While the application process might differ from the route through the embassy, I believe the application form and the supporting documents required is the same between the two. So here you go, the following is my research proposal written specifically for MEXT. It is meant to serve as a resource/reference to prospective MEXT applicants who find the application guidelines confusing and frustratingly vague.

F ield of Study

As the gap of prosperity diverges, social contradictions develop and can post a serious threat to the stability of the region. The degree of inequality accepted by the citizens of each region differs and is largely pending on their own perception of social upward mobility, i.e. if they believe that the opportunities and channels to climb up the rug of the social ladder are ample, their tolerance to inequality in correlation, is higher. Redistribution policies, such as a progressive tax system and minimum wage protection, should be devised based on such perception. In this study, I hope to quantify this relation by developing a model that incorporates the individual’s own utility function, that is, inequality perception due to the channels of upward mobility, and analyze the relative implication of each region’s Gini coefficient, which is a general measure of wealth disparity. The goal of this study is to define the fine line between a tolerable and an intolerable degree of inequality. The second aspect of this study is to examine the effects of some of the common redistribution policies and categorize them based on the degree of inequality in the different East Asian regions. This part of the study can be measured through the transfer of disposable income among different social groups.

“Economic performance and income inequality: A case study of inequality in Japan between 1980 and 2010”

TranSenz: MEXT Scholarship and Visa Information for Moving to Japan

Mext scholarship: field of study and research program plan.

The goal of your Field of Study is to condense all of this down to a page or two of comprehensible research plan.

Important Update!

In June 2017, I published an updated template for the Field of Study and Research Program Plan (for either Embassy-recommended or University-recommended application). Click the previous link for that article!

The Field of Study and Research Program Plan is both the most important and most confusing form in your Monbukagakusho (MEXT) Scholarship application. By the end of this article, you’re going to know what it is, why it matters, and how to write it- from what to include to how to approach revisions and outside editing.

Before you start, know that you’re going to need to spend time researching, writing, and revising this form. It is the single-most important tool you have at this point in your application to earn a scholarship that could be worth millions of yen. Other forms in your application will determine if you’re eligible to apply or not, but once you apply, this will decide your success.

Field of Study and Research Program Plan: What it Is

Need help with your Field of Study and Research Program Plan? How to Write a Scholarship-Winning Field of Study and Research Program Plan will walk you through choosing a field, developing a research question, and completing the final report to give you the best chance of success!

Proposed study program in Japan (State the outline of your major field of study on this side and the details of your study program on the backside of this sheet in concreteness. This section will be used as one of the most important references for selection. Statement must be typewritten or written in block letters. Additional sheets of paper may be attached if necessary.) If you have Japanese language ability, write in Japanese.

I said it was innocent. I didn’t say it was clear.

Language: Write in the language of the program you are applying for. If you’re applying for an English-taught degree, write in English, even if you have Japanese ability. Be consistent throughout your application.

Your field of study is not just the general field, this is the specific topic that you want to research for your graduation thesis. You don’t necessarily need your thesis statement at this point, but you at least need to have a specific problem in mind.

So, rather than “economics” you’re looking for “comparative impact of large infrastructure economic projects and microfinance on rural community rehabilitation in Indonesia.”

We’ll get into some of the specific elements to cover farther down.

For Embassy-Recommended Scholars : There is an extra section on your application to write about your current field of study, as well.
Research Program Plan: What you’re looking for here is a detailed timeline of the exact actions you’re going to take during your research. You won’t be covering your research topic so much as the practical process.

I would recommend adding no more than 1 sheet to each section. You could go more if your field of study absolutely requires graphs or images, but the rule of thumb is use the minimum length required to get your message across.

Why this Form Matters

If you look at the whole set of application materials, this is the only form that you have control over at this time.

Your grades and GPA are set. Your thesis all-but done. The contents of your letter of recommendation aren’t really significant (more on that in another article).

When universities get in all their applications, the first thing they are going to do is rank applicants by field according to their GPA. After that, your Field of Study and Research Program Plan is your best way to move up that ranking.

Like it or not, the Monbukagakusho Scholarship is a zero-sum game. If you want the scholarship, you have to beat out everyone else that wants it. So, you need to be as high on the applicant ranking as you can before the interviews start.

Field of Study: Page 1

According to an MEXT application FAQ that you can find on several Japanese embassy websites, your Field of Study needs to cover (Question 10):

“A specific amount of your research topic”
Methodology (this is page 2)
How your research fits in to the current research being done in the field
Why your research must be done at a Japanese university

The FAQ also says that your research plan should be something that you would feel comfortable submitting as a research proposal to a graduate school in [your home country]. This is a huge hint!

You may not have experience in submitting a research proposal, but I guarantee your academic advisor does. You can and absolutely should get advise from academic professionals!

By the way, if you’re reading these articles out of order, go back to the Choosing Your University article. I talk there about narrowing down your search to a specific professor at a specific university. As you write your Field of Study, remember you are writing to this professor.

When you give a “specific amount” of your research topic, you should know where your target professor sits in the field of research and pitch your research relative to the professor.

Methodology You will go into the practical methodology on page two. For here, it should suffice to explain what approach you will take to the topic: quantitative analysis, experimentation, historical analysis, comparison, field studies, etc. Note that the intent to conduct field studies outside of Japan can be a disqualifying factor.

As I mentioned in the Eligibility Criteria article , your Field of Study needs to be the same field that you majored in in your previous degree, or a related field. So, at this point, you should have a good grasp of the state of the field. It wouldn’t hurt to check with your current advisor, either.

Know where your target professor sits in the field, as well. You should know the professor’s current research interests and make sure you position your research relative to that professor.

Yes, non-specialists will read your proposal. Both faculty members from other departments in your graduate school and admin staff from the university and MEXT. When you cover your research field, you can target that section at people who understand your field, but when you get to the “must be done in Japan” and the impact statement, below, you are addressing everyone outside your field as well.

The best thing you can do here is to talk about practical examples of success in Japan that you want to study and apply to your home country. Flattery doesn’t hurt, either- talk about unique research advances in Japan or the state of the field in Japan as opposed to other countries. Talk about how you want to use your research to strengthen connections between Japan and your home country (this is the purpose of the Monbukagakusho scholarship, after all).

Obviously, “Because I can get a scholarship” is not a good reason.

If you’re concerned that your description of your research topic is too technical and inaccessible for non-experts, this is another area where you can appeal to that crowd.

Other Requirements Some universities may require that you specify your advisor by name in the Field of Study, or at least your graduate school and department. If you’re preparing your Field of Study in advance, as you should be, then make sure you check the university’s website when the guidelines are (finally) released to make sure you’re meeting all the requirements.

Tips for Writing Your Study Plan

This is not something you’re going to want to leave until the last minute. Even though it’s only two pages long, take it as seriously as you would a graduate thesis. After all, this single document is going to go a long way toward whether or not you spend the next two-to-five years getting paid to be a grad student in Japan.

One guy who earned the scholarship in the past in art recommended starting 6 months in advance . That’s a great idea, especially combined with networking, if you’re reading this early enough. But if you don’t have that kind of time, you can still help yourself out by moving faster.

I recommend you go through at least two drafts on your own, then take your product around for outside opinions:

Have your current advisor review it and give feedback. You want the perspective of a career academic and an expert in the field.
Have a non-expert review it. Ask a professor in an unrelated field or an adult friend with professional working experience. Your goal here is not so much the research as it is the flow of the document and whether it makes any sense at all to a person who doesn’t know what you’re talking about.
If you’re not a native English speaker, have a native speaker review it. Even if you’re confident in your English communication ability, remember, you’re not writing for a native speaker- you’re writing for Japanese speakers of English. Speaking from experience, they have a very different take on the language, so you want to make sure you have nothing in your Field of Study that could be misinterpreted.
Have a writing advisor review it, even if you are a native speaker. Your university might have an academic tutorial system that you can ask, or you can ask someone in your department who is known for being a hard-nosed paper grader. You want to make sure that you don’t have any writing idiosyncrasies or mistakes that you’re not aware of.
Have your target advisor review it. If you’ve successfully connected with your target advisor, you obviously want that professor’s opinion. Make sure to go through the other steps first, though, so you know the document you send the professor is top quality already! You don’t want to make them think less of you.

That’s brainstorming, research, two drafts on your own, as many as five reviews, and edits after each one, so don’t procrastinate. In fact, if you haven’t started yet, don’t read the rest of this blog. Go start your Field of Study now!

Even if you’re reading this after the application period has already started, you do still have time. Make sure that you make this your top priority for the next month or so until it’s complete!

Further Ideas

For further, field-specific guidelines, talk to your advisor about structure or google “research plan” and your field. Louisiana Tech, in the US, has a pretty good set of research plan guidelines , but be aware that these are designed for science field graduates seeking an academic job , so they’re more thorough than you need to be.

The most important thing is to avoid “paralysis by analysis.” Don’t overthink and double-question what elements you should have in your proposal. Start writing it and then seek advice. You can always add or cut later.

Research Program Plan

Once you’ve finished the Field of Study, perhaps while you’re waiting for the review, you’ll want to get started on the Research Program Plan. Fortunately, this page should be relatively straightforward.

In terms of length, the one page you’re given on the worksheet should be plenty for this section. I’ve seen many successful plans that were shorter than that. As with the Field of Study, this section should only be as long as it needs to be to get your point across.

And your point here is to show the reviewers that you know what you’re doing. One thing a professor is going to think about it how much trouble it’s going to be to supervise your research. They want to see that you have the basics of research down so that their guidance can focus more on your content, rather than fundamentals.

What to Cover

Your Research Program Plan should take the reviewers step-by-step through everything you intend to do on your way to your thesis or dissertation. Of course this is going to change once you get in to the research, but you want to have a framework to return to.

Your research plan should cover two years for a Master’s Degree and three for a Ph.D. You should definitely check your university’s website to find their academic calendar and structure your research along the lines of their semesters (you’ll be working through any breaks as well, of course).

For a little extra, check when they normally schedule their thesis submission and defense in the calendar and make sure the timeline in your Research Program Plan fits their schedule. If this information isn’t available on their website, it’s not worth going out of the way for, but if you can find it, it makes a nice additional touch.

Now that you have your basic calendar down, it’s time to make a timeline of how you will approach your research. The blogger I mentioned above (who earned the scholarship) wrote his as a month-by-month table, and that is certainly a workable solution. Again, the professors reviewing your application are not native English speakers and a table is easier to read.

You will, of course, want to elaborate a little on the contents of the table.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to research plans. If you’re applying in a humanities field, you’re going to need to take different steps than an applicant in engineering would. This is a good place to seek your current academic advisor’s advice, but here are a few of the common characteristics I’ve seen in successful applications in the past:

Literature review
Thesis development and review
Experiment design
Experimentation
Analysis of results
Writing, editing, and defense
Any interim publications you plan to submit or conferences in your field that you plan to present at. (Some degrees require a certain number of publications or conference presentations, but even if it isn’t required, it’s a good thing to have)
Any other opportunities to present or share your research – basically, ways to work toward the impact of your research that you mentioned in the Field of Study
Add some community involvement, too. Cultural exchange and creating connections between Japan and your home country is part of the purpose of this scholarship. If there are particular events you plan to participate in (e.g. doing school visits during a particular stage of your research), mentioning that could be helpful to your application, as well!

Formatting, Presentation, and Things to Avoid

Now that you have your content down, make sure that you present it in a way that’s easy to read and scan. Make sure it’s broken up into paragraphs with topic sentences and that the order is logical. Consider tiling your sections in bold, if possible.

Remember your target audience: They are not native English speakers, they have up to dozens of applications to read through in a short amount of time, and frankly many of them are not that interested in your subject material. Your sentences should be concise and not open to grammatical confusion.

Engineers, I say this with only the best intentions: Get a history or English major to review your writing.

Aplication Killers

Submit a one-word Field of Study
Contact the university or professor and tell them you don’t know what a research plan is.
Ask your target professor to write your research plan. You should at least have a solid idea of your research topic and an outline of your Field of Study.
Write an overly technical or detailed plan. You should know the details, of course, but they don’t all need to be in this document (you’ll have interviews to follow up)- just enough to let the reviewers know that you know what you’re doing.
Submit a Field of Study related to military or dual-use technology.

Yes, I’ve seen all of those things.

Wrapping Up

We’ve covered why this form is important, the elements to include in both questions, and length and content depth guidelines. Hopefully that’s everything you need to start going.

I’ll leave you with a few important reminders:

Don’t Panic: Most people who apply for the Monbukagakusho Scholarship have never written a Field of Study and Research Program Plan before. You’re not at a disadvantage. (I would hope that, having read this article, you have an advantage over much of the field, if you put these ideas into action.)

Get Feedback: There is absolutely no rule saying that you have to do this all on your own. The best ideas and research come from collaboration. Start with your advisor and his or her connections.

Start Early and Revise Often: Right now, as soon as you finish reading this blog, start brainstorming and working on your outline. The more drafts you go through and the more time you have to seek outside opinions, the more polished of a product you’ll have at the end.

Focus on Your Target: Your Field of Study, especially, should be designed to appeal directly to your target advisor. Connect your interest to theirs, your research to theirs.

Now, go get started! Good luck!

Before asking any questions in the comments below, please read through the MEXT Scholarship Application FAQ top page and specific FAQ pages to see what I’ve answered already and to find tips about how to get your questions answered faster.

You can ask your questions in the comments here, on the FAQ page, or by email and I will answer them by updating the FAQ and letting you know when the answers are available.

I’d also recommend signing up for my mailing list to get notified whenever I have updates to any of the FAQs or new articles about the MEXT scholarship!

MEXT Scholarship Application form Embassy sample

Hello Travis, Thank You for the insights on writing a research plan. I need clarity. Can a present field of study topic be the same as a Research theme? The 2024 form has two questions: 1. Past and Present Field of Study . 2. Research theme Research plan.

This is a really old article, from before the form changed. Please refer to the newest article about how to write the Field of Study and Research Program Plan for the Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship . That article explains what is expected in each section, including the difference between the Past/Present Field of Study and your (future) research theme.

Good Luck! – Travis from TranSenz

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