The Iwatani International Student Scholarship (岩谷国際留学生奨学助成) is run by The Iwatani Naoji Foundation, a public-interest foundation set up in Tokyo in 1973 by Iwatani Naoji, founder of Iwatani Corporation. It backs privately financed international students from East and Southeast Asia who are studying natural sciences at a Japanese graduate school. Recipients get a monthly living stipend for up to two years and join a scholar community that meets five times a year, including a residential study trip.
The 52nd round funded the 2026 academic year, and the foundation opens the call every December. Everything the foundation runs — the application file, the interview and the scholar meetings — is in Japanese.
Benefits & funding
- ¥150,000 per month, with no repayment obligation.
- Paid from 1 April for the standard remaining length of the degree, capped at two years.
- Roughly 15 to 20 scholars are selected each year.
- Travel costs for attending the foundation’s scholar meetings, plus support once during the award for presenting at an academic conference; the amount is not published.
- Five scholar meetings a year alongside the foundation’s Japanese scholars, one of them a two-night study trip, and the Tomonokai alumni network afterwards.
Eligibility
- Nationals of China, South Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand or Vietnam. Japanese nationals apply instead to the foundation’s separate scholarship for Japanese graduate students.
- Living in Japan on a student visa and, as of 1 April 2026, enrolled in or admitted to a master’s or doctoral program at a Japanese graduate school. Undergraduates and non-degree research students are not eligible.
- Privately financed: the applicant must not hold a Japanese government (MEXT) scholarship as of 1 April 2026.
- Age on 1 April 2026 under 30 for master’s students and under 35 for doctoral students. The structured age cap is set to the doctoral limit, so master’s applicants must check the lower cut-off themselves.
- A major in the natural sciences or a related interdisciplinary field — engineering, science and agriculture broadly; medicine and pharmacy are excluded.
- Able to hold an everyday conversation in Japanese, which is the only language the foundation uses.
- No scholarship or research funding from another institution from April 2026 onwards, except a university award of less than ¥100,000 per month.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
Decoded from the official rules. A free account checks them against your passport, degree and age in seconds.
Eligible nationalities
China · South Korea · Mongolia · Taiwan · Cambodia · Indonesia · Laos · Malaysia · Myanmar · Philippines · Singapore · Thailand
+ 1 more
Vietnam
Residence required
Japan
Education required
Bachelor · Master Enrolled · Master · PhD Enrolled
Age requirement
≤ 34 yrs
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Application process
- 1Watch the foundation’s scholarship page in November, when the guidelines and the application workbook for the round are posted.
- 2Register an account on the foundation’s web application system; students apply directly and no university nomination or quota is involved.
- 3Prepare the file in Japanese: career history, personal record, research plan, a handwritten self-introduction, certificate of enrollment, transcript and a health certificate.
- 4Ask the academic supervisor to write the recommendation letter (form 5), covering research ability, prospects of completing the degree, character and Japanese language ability.
- 5Submit through the web system between 1 and 20 December.
- 6Attend the interview in early February if the document screening passes, then wait for the final decision in mid-February.
Program timeline
Applications opened for the 52nd (2026) round.
Dec 1, 2025
Application deadline.
Dec 20, 2025
Document screening results announced.
Late January 2026
Interviews.
Early February 2026
Final results announced.
Mid-February 2026
Payments started for the 2026 cohort.
Apr 1, 2026
The next round is expected to open; the foundation states the window runs 1 to 20 December every year.
Dec 1, 2026