Honjo International Scholarship Foundation Scholarship for Foreign Students

Who can apply

Not a Japanese citizen, of any nationality and any research field
Enrolling or planning to enrol in a Japanese graduate school from April 2027 (Fall 2027 entry is also accepted); remaining enrolment at the start of payment must be longer than 12 months
Master's applicants must start the master's course by age 30; PhD applicants must start the PhD course by age 35; no exceptions to either cutoff
Able to hold a basic conversation in Japanese; the selection interview is conducted in Japanese with no exceptions, though it is not intended to test language ability itself
Not already receiving another scholarship, except MEXT, the Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship for Privately Financed International Students, a JSPS International Fellowship, an approved-for-concurrent-receipt JST Fellowship, or a JICA scholarship

A required research video, not a formality

You need to already have a plan for your target lab before you apply, because a two-minute video of you presenting your own research plan, on camera, in Japanese or English, is a required upload, not optional. Presentation slides are allowed in the video, but your face has to stay visible throughout. Budget real time to prepare and record this rather than treating it as a formality.

What you upload, and the two documents that depend on other people

Everything goes through the online application system, and the guideline says documents cannot be accepted by post. Besides a face photo and the required two-minute research video, you upload your undergraduate transcript (a graduate transcript is optional, and a translation is needed if the transcript is not in Japanese or English), a research proposal on the foundation’s designated Word template, and proof of admission such as an admission or acceptance letter. The research proposal is written in Japanese and covers your research content and schedule, how you will contribute to your home country, and what you have already achieved. If you are not confident in your Japanese, the guideline lets you add an English version alongside the Japanese one. A 30-second self-promotion video is optional.

Two items depend on other people. The recommendation letter must come from your supervisor, or from a previous supervisor in your own country who knows your academic background, and it needs the recommender’s signature or seal. The recommender can send it straight to the foundation, from their own email account to info@hisf.or.jp, no later than 31 October 2026, with your name and application number in the file name, and you then upload the received copy to the system. If your admission letter is not available by 31 October, enter the probable date in the system and email the letter to the foundation as soon as you have it, because you cannot log in to the system after 1 November. Until 31 October you can edit or replace what you have uploaded.

The interview: entirely in Japanese, no exceptions

The interview is the detail most likely to catch an otherwise strong applicant off guard. It is conducted entirely in Japanese, with no exceptions stated anywhere in the foundation’s own materials, even though the foundation is explicit that the interview isn’t meant to test your language skill itself. If your Japanese is currently limited to basics, start building enough conversational ability to get through a research discussion in the language well before results from the document-screening round are announced, since the interview itself is scheduled for 8 February 2027 according to the foundation’s page.

Read the concurrent-scholarship exceptions list carefully

Read the concurrent-scholarship list carefully if you’re hoping to combine funding. Honjo bars holding any other scholarship at the same time, with a short, named list of exceptions: MEXT, the Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship, a JSPS International Fellowship, an approved JST Fellowship, and JICA scholarships. A university-specific tuition waiver or a different foundation’s award that isn’t on that list would disqualify you from holding both.

A stipend-only award, and only about 10 places a year

Because this is a stipend-only award, treat it as one piece of your funding plan rather than the whole thing. Tuition, your initial flight to Japan, and housing are all explicitly your own responsibility, so pair this with a tuition waiver or a separate source before you count on it covering your full cost of study. The scale is worth keeping in mind too: the foundation funds only around 10 students a year across every nationality and research field combined, so treat this as a genuine long shot worth applying to rather than something to count on. For the wider cost picture of living and studying in Japan beyond what this stipend covers, see the guide to studying in Japan.