My MEXT Monbusho Study in Japan Scholarship Process Part I

I've been wanting to go to Japan since I was about 12. Since then, somehow, I keep getting sidetracked. I've been in Taiwan now for over 7 years and have still not been to Japan - worse still, I'm now 'too old' to start over teaching bratty kids, competing for jobs with fresh-faced, young and enthusiastic uni-graduates. I'm ready to finish my PHD studies, publish some articles, and get a nice, comfortable university job as a professor until I'm 80 years old.

I have been accepted to NTU, which is fantastic - it's Taiwan's #1 school and I'm lucky to get in. However, at the same time, I was turned down for the Taiwan Scholarship. Not that I blame them; as a white-faced English speaking foreigner, I automatically have the ability to make lots of money in Taiwan and take care of myself, so maybe they gave the $ to someone more deserving. Fine. Whatever.

I had made the choice to go to NTU because it made the most sense, but since I know knew I wasn't going to be on scholarship, which significantly changes the lifestyle I had planned out for myself, I'm ready to do something a little more risky. I got out the application package for the MEXT that I had prepared a few months ago.

The MEXT, or Monbukagakusho Scholarship Japanese Government Postgraduate Research Program, is a Japanese government grant that covers your tuition, cost of living, and transportation to Japan. You can get it if you're in Japan through a university, or you can get an embassy to recommend you. That's what I did... unfortunately, since not much information is easily available, I emailed my embassy contact a lot of dumb questions for about 6 months. Wasn't a smart move, but oh well. I had put together what I thought was a really strong package; I even got it translated into Japanese - but then I decided to go to NTU intead.

Now, sure that I really wanted to go to Japan if I have the opportunity, I bought a copy of the #1 Monbukagakusho Scholarship Study Guide, after reading it I found out I'd gone about my application all wrong. I was talking about why I wanted to go there rather than what I wanted to do there. The MEXT is a research scholarship, which means you need to make a research proposal: abstract, keywords, thesis statement, study plan and timeline, etc. That's the important part.

Also, although I know what I want to study, there was no clear connection with Japan other than I wanted to live there. After reading the ebook and updating my application, it's now reasonably strong; I tied in what I had plan to study with a specific and notable piece of Japanese culture - so now I'm able to list my research benefits which is super important.

Anyway, at the point I've turned in the application and am getting ready for the interview - I was told that I actually SHOULD try to find an advisor in Japan (I'd misunderstood this before) so in the next week I'll be frantically sending out emails to everybody in Japan. Yikes.