DLC Blog

Third Time's a Charm

三度目正直

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Since I was a freshman at the UW I have been trying to get the Japanese Studies Scholarship funded by the Japanese government. This scholarship funds one year of study at any of the universities offered through the program (about 50+), about half of them being Ivy league status. In the program you will take either two choices: 1. An intensive focus on Japanese language with some studies about culture, or 2. An intensive focus on Japanese culture with some language classes. Anyone who is non-Japanese (meaning 1st generation), at a 4 year university (you can still apply if you just graduated and are going to a university in the fall), majoring or minoring in a Japan-related field and between the ages of 18-29 is eligible.

The benefits of the scholarship are quite amazing. They give you a monthly stipend (a paycheck) for 134000 yen which equals to about $1300 a month, travel expenses to and from Japan, an arrival allowance of 25000 yen (about $250), exemption of school fees for entrance exams, matriculation, and tuition, some medical fees, and they will assist you in finding housing for you.

The way the scholarship works is that you first apply at your local Japanese embassy, and if you make it to the end, they will recommend you to the Japanese government which will then take all the applicants from around the world (because anyone can apply for this scholarship regardless of nationality it is pretty competitive) and from those they will choose the most "eligible." In other words, it is very possible they could choose everyone, and it is very possible they could choose no one.

Now, at my university I'm majoring in Japanese literature and microbiology, and I'm not rich or anything like that, so this scholarship sounded fantastic to me. My freshman year I applied for this scholarship after studying very hard. The first stage, just a documentation screening, I passed no problem. The second stage, a really difficult Japanese language test (3hours) and an even more nerve racking interview (15-30min) both in Japanese and English was very difficult. However, surprisingly enough, I was the only one, and youngest one in the Northwest region of the US to make it to the final stage of that year. The results didn't come until August, and I found out that I didn't make it. This kinda disappointed me, but I applied again the next year. This time I studied a lot more for the exam. Again, I passed the documentation screening, and then I passed the test, but when it came to the interview I didn't make it and lost. However, I was able to get into the Technical Japanese Program at the UW( a graduate program) which also benefited me a lot in my studies. The Technical Japanese Program helped me even more this year, because again I passed the first stage, and then I passed the exam, and was able to do my interview all in Japanese. Just 2 weeks ago I was informed that I finally passed the final stage and will be leaving for Japan in October! I'm pretty excited to be going. I'll be going to Okinawa, which is an island in the southwest of mainland Japan. It is also the hottest. I've done 2 exchanges there before and loved it a lot. This will be my first time in Japan, at a University.

I hope everyone reading this blog who is studying Japanese is inspired to apply for this scholarship and also is inspired to never give up. Every time during my interview I was asked, "Alex, what will you plan to do if you don't get this scholarship?"

And I always replied "I will just apply again next year and again meet you in the interview room."

And so here I am after applying three times and finally making it. I wish you all well and good luck with your future studies, as I know I will be having a blast in Okinawa. This is my last blog. It has been a great pleasure being with the Digital Learning Commons.

Below is the link to which will give you more info on the scholarship.
http://www.seattle.us.emb-japan.go.jp/culture/scholarship.htm

Posted by Alex at August 16, 2006 12:58 PM in .