MEXT Advisory for Japanese Studies Students

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Hello everyone!

Welcome to 仏教の生き様 (Bukkyou no Ikizama), a blog where I talk about Japan, the Japanese language and Japanese culture. Today I will discuss how to make preparations for MEXT for Japanese Studies Students which is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. So happy reading!


 Contents: 

  1. About MEXT

  2. Application form

    1. Choosing the Research Topic

    2. Writing the research plan

    3. General Tips

  3. Written Examination

    1. Previous Year Papers

  4. Interview

    1. Some Possible Interview questions

    2. Tips for the interview


About MEXT:

This is a scholarship offered by The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan to international students who wish to study at Japanese universities. This is a fully-funded scholarship that covers tuition fees, accommodation, monthly living allowance and round airfare travel expenses. This has different categories which can be understood from the official MEXT website (This is just for Indian students).

In this particular blog, we will focus only on the Japanese Studies Students (JSS) category. This is for those studying Japanese in various institutions and only students with an excellent academic record (differs based on the institute) get a chance to apply for it in the 3rd year of the BA program (even 2nd year in some universities).


Application form

Choosing the Research Topic:

a) Think of the topic as a question you want to find the answer to and write down a few questions (e.g. where do the children of Indian immigrants in Japan learn?). Reframe this as a sentence (e.g. Educational Outcomes of Children of Indian Immigrants) and you will have the research topic.

b) Don't choose a topic with an extremely broad scope (e.g. Christianity in Japan, Samurai, Heian Period) but something specific, i.e. rather than Christianity, a topic such as 'Choirs in Churches in Nagasaki' is specific (not too broad).

 

Writing the research plan:

Keep the following things in mind while writing the plan:

  • The question you want to answer through your research.

  • Have others asked the same or similar questions? Who are they? What are the studies? (Search on Google Scholar)

  • Why is this Question important?

  • How are you going to find the answer to this Question?

The structure of the plan can be as follows:

  1. Theme

  2. Motive / Objective

  3. Prior Research

  4. Methodology

  5. Conclusion / Significance

 

General Tips:

  1. While selecting the universities, have a good reason for selecting it as it is asked during the interview.

  2. Some universities ask for N3, N2 or N1 for applying so it is better to have a JLPT certificate when you apply. Try to get the highest level you can get before the application.

  3. You can send your research plan to all the professors and ask for their review. 

  4. There might be some discrepancies regarding the date of graduation in the application, so consult your professor (who gave you the form) regarding that.


Written Examination 

  1. The written exam paper for the Japanese Studies students is almost exactly the same as the one for research students, so take that as the base for your preparations.

  2. Practise as many past papers as you can, it really helps a lot. (Added those I could find at the end, maybe can find new ones here)

  3. Section A is the easiest which is kind of similar to the JLPT N5-N4 level.

  4. Section B is a bit difficult with around N3-N2 level questions.

  5. Section C is quite difficult with N1+ level questions. 

  6. Recommended textbooks: Shin-Kanzen Master, Soumatome (Grammar, Vocabulary and Reading; especially N2 and N1)

  7. Q1 has fill-in-the-blank questions related to grammar patterns, vocabulary and set phrases.

  8. Q2 deals with questions where we have to replace the underlined phrase with the closest meaning phrase from the options. This also revolves around grammar patterns, vocabulary and set phrases.

  9. Q3 has short conversations and we have to fill the suitable response between the speakers.

  10. Q4 has Kanji questions whose format has changed from 2020, so practice the way it is in the 2020 question paper. Earlier we had to write kanji and readings by hand but now we have to select the reading which uses the same kanji as the one in the question.

  11. Q5 has passages (short, medium and long), and you need to answer questions based on the passage.

  12. Pay close attention to the allocation of marks. For instance, each correct answer in the Reading section awards you a staggering 6 marks, compared to 2 marks questions in Q1 and Q2. It is worth strategizing over which areas to improve concerning the marks allocated for that section. 

  13. Since the passages take a lot of time and have the heaviest weightage, we suggest that you do them first so that you can do the rest of the paper without being worried about missing those questions. (This is one of the many possible strategies)

  14. Each section is of 100 marks and the whole paper of 300. (Division of each section is given here ➡)


Previous Year Papers


Interview

Some Possible Interview questions:

  1. Self-introduction.

  2. Why do you want to go to Japan?

  3. Why did you enrol for this scholarship?

  4. Tell us about your research topic.

  5. Why do you have an interest in this topic?

  6. What do you plan to do after going to Japan?

  7. Why did you select the given university? (1st choice one)

  8. Why do you think you need to go to Japan for this research? (This might not be asked directly but it is better to cover this in other answers)

  9. Why is your research important? 

  10. What do you plan to do after coming back from Japan? 

  11. Where do you want to visit Japan when you have time and why? (With examples)

  12. Japan's weather is different from that of India, will you be able to adjust?

  13. Can you adjust to the food?

  14. What is your favourite Japanese food?

  15. If you are a vegetarian, what will you do since there isn't much veg food in Japan?

  16. Can you cook?

  17. What do you like about Japan? (specific answers, will ask for examples)

  18. If you have to introduce one thing about Japan to your friend, what will that be?

  19. Have you ever gone abroad?

  20. Have you ever had any foreign friends? What differences did you find in their culture from yours?

  21. Do you think your Japanese level is good enough to be able to do this research?

  22. Why did you start studying Japanese? What do you like most about the Japanese language?

  23. What all courses are there at your university? Which one do you like the most and why? 

  24. They'll ask about your JLPT level.

  25. They'll ask you questions about what you write in the application - you'll have to give additional information to it apart from what you wrote.

  26. What will you do if you don't get this scholarship?


Tips for the interview:

  1. Teineigo is preferred. 

  2. Start from the main point (conclusion) of what you want to say and then elaborate on it. 

  3. There are mostly 2 types of questions, one asking about you and one asking about your research topic. Make sure you segregate those and answer accordingly.

  4. Your answers should reflect that you are eager to go to Japan. (They won’t like anyone pulling out after receiving the scholarship)

  5. You don’t intend to stay back as it is not allowed.

  6. It should look like you are going to study further even after returning from Japan.

  7. Make sure your answer focuses on 1 clear thing and is not vague.

  8. Give less generic answers and make them more personalised.

  9. Make sure the first sentence of the answer gives away the main thing and is not very long.

  10. No いろいろ or any other vague word, everything should be concrete.

  11. Don't overuse filers.

  12. When you say culture - what part of the culture - let's say tea ceremony - what part of it and why. 

  13. You have to give extremely positive answers that are favourable to Japan & its culture.

  14. Even if you wanna go for better job prospects in the future, you should not say that's the only reason. (Job+further studies+your love for Japan & its culture).

  15. The questions written above are based on the experiences of different people. Not all will be there for you, not necessarily they will be asked in the same way, just the overall theme would revolve around these.



** All the things mentioned in this post are based on experiences and advice from different people and are not hard and fast rules that would surely be true. **


Contributors:

Arpit Gupta: apt.arpit.gup@gmail.com

Abhijit Prabhu: abhijitprabhu1101@gmail.com

(With the help of teachers and seniors)



So until next time, when we’ll read a bit more about Japan, the Japanese language and Japanese culture, keep connected as we learn together!


Happy learning ^.^

Arpit Gupta

Other Blogs: Buddhism, Buddhism in Japan, Proverbs 

Contact: apt.arpit.gup@gmail.com, Twitter

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