Hokkaido University Japanese Language and Culture Studies Program students 2020-2021

（One Year course and Half Year course）

Application Guidelines for Hokkaido University Japanese Language and Culture Studies Program students (2020-2021)

The objectives of this program are:

• to improve students’ Japanese language proficiency in order to enable them to interact with Japanese speakers and to conduct research in Japanese;
• to acquire basic knowledge and methodology for Japanese studies – especially relating to Japanese general and applied linguistics;
• to gain a deeper understanding of Japanese language and culture through various courses.

Qualification of applicants

• Those who major in Japanese language or culture in the undergraduate courses of university – wide agreement partners of Hokkaido University. (department – wide agreement partners not eligible). First-year students are not eligible to apply.
• Applicants should have N3 (or higher) on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test or the equivalent or higher proficiency in Japanese at the time of application. In particular, applicants should know 500 or more kanji and have the skill to understand conversation spoken at natural speed and read/write simple sentences.
• Applications from students whose proficiency in Japanese does not meet the requirements will not be accepted. Any students who are found to be at the introductory level by the placement test which is conducted by Hokkaido University after arrival will not be able to complete the program.
• Applicants must possess a good academic record at university level

Number of students expected to enroll: 40 for One Year course and 20 for Fall and Spring semester
courses (In principle, only one student is supposed to be accepted from each institution, however, in case the number of applicants is lower than the numbers shown above, 2 or more students could be accepted from the same institution.)

MEXT scholarship

• The MEXT scholarship is available only for the One-Year course applicants who will be 18 years old to 29 years old on April 1, 2020 and have the Certificate of passing N2 or above of Japanese Language Proficiency Test and equivalent.
• The application form and the guidelines will be available at the website in the end of January. Please read the guidelines carefully before the application.
• The application form shall be submitted in both side printing. Please note that the scholarship is highly competitive. The result would be announced in the middle of July. https://www.global.hokudai.ac.jp/admissions/exchange-student-admissions/exchange-programs-in-japanese-jlcsp/
• Term of scholarship: from October 2020 to August 202
• (2) Monthly stipend: ¥117,000 (expected amount)

JASSO scholarship

• The JASSO scholarship is available only for the Half-Year course applicants who meet the JASSO requirements. If you hope to apply for the scholarship, please check the designated part of the checklist of application package.
• Please note that the scholarship is so competitive that you cannot always be chosen as a grantee of the scholarship.
• (1) Term of scholarship: from October 2020 to February 2021, April 2021 to August 2021
• (2) Monthly stipend: ¥80,000 (expected amount)

How to submit

• Please submit the application form and any additional documents to the office responsible for student exchange at your university. Application documents must not be sent directly to Hokkaido
• University. The deadline of submission at Hokkaido University is as follows:
• One Year: February 14, 2020
• Half-Year (2020 Fall Semester): February 14, 2020
• Half-Year (2021 Spring Semester): October 30, 2020
• ＊Half-Year (2021 Spring Semester) applicants should submit their applications in October, not February.

Official Website