Japan

• The University of Tokyo opens a new English-taught faculty in September 2027 — its first new undergraduate faculty in about seventy years — with 50 of its 100 places on a route built for international qualifications and the IB named first.
• Keio's PEARL runs three application periods for September 2027, the last closing on 7 April 2027, and accepts predicted IB grades in as many words. It is the latest Japanese deadline on this page and the one that fits a Danish school year.
• Waseda's application window for September entry ran 8 January to 10 February in the most recent cycle — one application covering six English-based schools, late enough that predicted grades are settled.
• Kyoto's iUP takes you with no Japanese at all: a six-month preparatory course, then four years of undergraduate study, 4.5 years in total, with fee waivers and monthly scholarships for eligible students.
• National-university tuition in Japan is low by global standards, and private universities are far cheaper than their US or UK equivalents — though the 2027 figures are not confirmed here.
• Money at the point of admission rather than by separate application: Waseda states that its scholarship recipients are determined by the admission result with no separate form, and Kyoto's iUP attaches fee waivers and monthly scholarships to eligible students. This matters more here than MEXT does, because the MEXT undergraduate scholarship is not offered to Danish nationals and depends, for everyone else, on the Japanese embassy in their country of citizenship — see the watch-outs.
• Several programmes — ICU, Akita International University, APU — are built entirely around a bilingual liberal-arts model that maps naturally onto the IB's breadth.

• The University of Tokyo's PEAK has ended — its own site states that September 2026 was the final student recruitment — but Todai has not closed to English-speaking school-leavers. The UTokyo College of Design opens in September 2027 and its applications close on 5 November 2026, the earliest Japanese deadline on this page. It is a five-year integrated bachelor's and master's programme, not a bachelor's degree.
• UTokyo's other English route, the Global Science Course, is a third-year transfer programme requiring at least two years of undergraduate study outside Japan. It is not an entry point from gymnasium.
• Tohoku's Future Global Leadership courses and Sophia's Green Science and Green Engineering courses took their last students in 2026. Tohoku replaces FGL with Gateway College (English-taught, October 2027 intake, applications 15 December 2026 to 14 January 2027); Sophia opens an English-taught Bachelor of Engineering in Digital Green Technology.
• Deadlines are a major trap, and they are spread over six months with nothing joining them up: UTokyo College of Design closes 5 November 2026, Kyoto iUP 3 December, Kyushu 11 December, Tohoku Gateway College 14 January 2027, Keio PEARL in three periods between December 2026 and 7 April 2027, Waseda at a date not yet announced. Build the list in the autumn of 2026.
• Two intakes means two calendars, and neither is September by default. The Japanese academic year runs April to March; April 2027 entry would mean applying in mid-2026 and is not realistic. Kyoto's iUP enrols in October, which is a third calendar again.
• MEXT is not what it looks like from Europe. The undergraduate scholarship funds a year of preparatory Japanese followed by a degree taught in Japanese; English-medium study happens only through 'direct placement', which MEXT decides, and MEXT chooses your university with no objection allowed.
• Which embassy handles MEXT depends on your nationality: MEXT tells applicants to ask "the Japanese Embassy or Consulate General in your country". If you hold Danish citizenship, the undergraduate scholarship is not open to you. The Embassy of Japan in Denmark's Study in Japan page (dated 3 December 2020) lists two MEXT types for Danish nationals, Japanese Studies and Research Student, both for students already at university. Its 2026 news list carries a single MEXT call, for Research Students 2027. For any other nationality, ask the Japanese embassy in that country whether it runs the undergraduate track. Either way, plan Japan's finances around institutional awards and JASSO, and get the embassy's answer in writing before you build a year around MEXT.
• The only official tuition figure quoted here is the University of Tokyo's own, and it carries no price year. The fee table linked from Japan's official study-promotion site is drawn from the Student Guide to Japan 2019–2020 and is out of date by several years.
• If you can claim Danish SU, it does not follow you to Japan on the same terms as to an EU/EEA country. Check with su.dk early; a full degree outside the EU/EEA has separate rules. If you cannot claim it, check whether your own country's student finance covers a degree outside Europe.
• Japanese universities generally want documents apostilled and sometimes notarised, and a Certificate of Eligibility must be obtained before the student visa. Start three months before travel.

Accepted

Yes

Subjects and levels

There is no national rule. Each English-taught programme treats the full IB Diploma as meeting the twelve-year schooling condition and sets its own standard on top. The UTokyo College of Design is the one that publishes a number: it expects 38 of 42 points across the six subjects plus at least 2 for TOK and the Extended Essay, and says expectations 'are not cut off scores'. Keio's PEARL and Tohoku's Gateway College accept an IB Diploma or predicted grades.

Score conversion

No national conversion table. Each university reads IB points directly.

• The IB Diploma is one of the qualifications Japan's English-taught programmes were explicitly designed to receive, alongside A-levels, the US high school diploma plus SAT/ACT, and the Abitur.
• Predicted grades do the work. Every September or October 2027 decision on this page is made before 6 July 2027. Keio and Tohoku accept predictions in so many words; the UTokyo College of Design accepts a certified predicted score from anyone whose exams fall after its deadline, makes the offer conditional, and wants final results by 16 August 2027.
• MEXT's scholarship route applies its own academic condition — twelve years of schooling completed by March of the arrival year, or by August where the applicant enters in the autumn term through direct placement. An IB Diploma completed in May sits between the two. For Danish nationals this is a secondary question, because the Embassy of Japan in Denmark does not offer them the undergraduate scholarship; for other nationalities it depends on the Japanese embassy in that country.
• Some programmes also want SAT/ACT or a national university entrance examination for international students (EJU). Check each one — the requirements are not uniform.
• The UTokyo College of Design expects 38/42 plus 2 core points, and says this is not a cut-off. No other programme on this page publishes a minimum.

1. In September 2026, build a spreadsheet of every English-taught programme you are interested in, with its intake month and its own deadline. There is no central portal and no shared calendar.

2. Decide April or September. For an IB student finishing in May 2027, September or October 2027 is the only realistic entry.

3. Ask your IB coordinator for predicted grades early — most Japanese applications are decided on predictions, an essay, a transcript and references.

4. Check whether each programme wants SAT/ACT or the EJU on top of the IB. If it does, book the test by autumn 2026.

5. Submit direct to each university through its own online portal, paying a separate application fee each time.

6. Do not build a MEXT application into the plan without checking first. If you hold Danish citizenship: the Embassy of Japan in Copenhagen offers Danish nationals only the Japanese Studies and Research Student types, both of which require you to be at university already, and ran no undergraduate call in 2026. Ask info@ch.mofa.go.jp directly. If you hold another citizenship, check the MEXT call of the Japanese embassy in your country of citizenship. The route that is open to a school-leaver is university-recommendation MEXT, which the university nominates you for after admitting you — so ask each admissions office whether it holds quota places.

7. Once you hold an offer, the university applies for your Certificate of Eligibility. You then take that to the Japanese embassy for the student visa. Allow three months.

Selection is document-based and often interview-based rather than exam-based for English-taught programmes: transcript, predicted grades, personal statement, references and sometimes an online interview. This suits IB students who write well. The competitive bar at Kyoto, Waseda's Political Science and Economics, and Keio is high; APU, Akita and several regional programmes are more accessible.

• 5 November 2026, 17:00 JST

  UTokyo College of Design, Route B, September 2027 entry

  Hard deadline Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Route B is the international-qualifications route and lists the IB, with an expected level of 38/42 plus 2 core points that the university says is not a cut-off. 50 of the 100 places. First screening result 22 December 2026, final decision 20 February 2027. Closes 17:00 JST.

  Opens 15 October 2026 at 09:00 JST. Route B is the international-qualifications route (50 of the 100 places) and lists the IB. A separate video assignment is due 13–16 November 2026, first screening result 22 December 2026, final decision 20 February 2027. With predicted grades the offer is conditional and final results are due by 16 August 2027.

  Source

• 13 November to 16 November 2026

  UTokyo College of Design video assignment window

  Hard deadline Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  A separate submission after the application closes, inside a four-day window. Both routes require it, alongside essays, supporting materials and an English proficiency test result.

• 2 December 2026

  Keio PEARL, Period I, September 2027 entry

  Hard deadline Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Closes 15:00 JST. The three periods share one quota of about 100 places, so an early period competes for a fuller pool.

• 3 December 2026, 17:00 JST

  Kyoto University iUP, October 2027 enrolment

  Hard deadline Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Closes 17:00 JST. Kyoto's Apply page gives the period as 2 November to 3 December 2026. Screening stages and result dates are in Kyoto's guidelines PDF.

  Applications open 2 November 2026. Kyoto's own Apply page gives the period as "November 2 until December 3, 2026 (5 p.m. Japan Standard Time)". Screening stages and result dates are in Kyoto's guidelines PDF.

  Source

• 11 December 2026

  Kyushu University international undergraduate programmes, October 2027 entry

  Hard deadline Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  A five-day window: the online system is open only from 7 to 11 December, so do not plan to start the form on the 11th. Documents also go by post. For the English-taught engineering programmes and Bioresource and Bioenvironment. No closing time is stated.

  A five-day window: the online application system is open only from 7 to 11 December 2026, so do not plan to start the form on the 11th. Kyushu then wants "all the necessary documents by post" as well. For the English-taught engineering programmes and Bioresource and Bioenvironment. No closing time is stated.

  Source

• 22 December 2026

  UTokyo College of Design first screening result, Route B

  Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

• 14 January 2027

  Tohoku University Gateway College, October 2027 entry

  Hard deadline Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  First-stage result 5 February, second stage 21–22 February 2027, successful applicants announced 24 March. Predicted IB scores are accepted. About 90 places for October entry.

  Application period 15 December 2026 to 14 January 2027; first-stage result 5 February, second stage 21–22 February, successful applicants announced 24 March 2027. Predicted IB scores are accepted. No closing time is stated.

  Source

• 27 January 2027

  Keio PEARL, Period II, September 2027 entry

  Hard deadline Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

• 1 February 2027
  Spring 2028

  Ask the Japanese embassy in your country of citizenship for its dates

  Only if: Depends on your nationality: you apply through the Japanese embassy in your country of citizenship, and each decides what it offers.

  Your own plan Via MEXT scholarship, Embassy Recommendation, for arrival in April 2028

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  Not a published deadline and not anyone's rule. The Embassy of Japan in Denmark lists only the Japanese Studies and Research Student types for Danish nationals. If you hold another nationality, ask the Japanese embassy in your country of citizenship whether it offers the undergraduate type; either way, ask in February, because the window itself would fall in April and May 2027, on top of the IB examinations.

• 7 April 2027, 15:00 JST

  Keio PEARL, Period III, September 2027 entry

  Hard deadline Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  The latest closing date of any Japanese route on this page, and the one that fits a Danish school year: predicted grades are settled by then and the result arrives on 24 May, after the examination session. Keio accepts predicted IB grades in as many words.

  The last of three periods sharing about 100 places; Periods I and II close 2 December 2026 and 27 January 2027. Result 24 May 2027 — after the examination session, before results. Keio accepts predicted IB grades explicitly. Application fee JPY 35,000.

  Source

• 1 May 2027
  Spring 2028

  The MEXT application and the IB examination session overlap

  Only if: Depends on your nationality: you apply through the Japanese embassy in your country of citizenship, and each decides what it offers.

  Your own plan Via MEXT scholarship, Embassy Recommendation, for arrival in April 2028

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  Worth putting on a calendar as a warning rather than as a task. The application needs a health certificate signed by a physician and a recommendation letter, neither of which can be produced in a week, and it falls in the same eight weeks as the examinations.

• 6 July 2027

  IB results released

  Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  Every Japanese decision in this route is made before this date — the earliest by four and a half months. What each university does with a place held against a predicted grade once the diploma arrives is set institution by institution and is not established here.

• 16 August 2027

  UTokyo College of Design: final IB results due

  Hard deadline Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  An offer made on predicted grades is conditional, and final scores must reach the university by 16 August 2027.

• Not yet announced for this intake

  Waseda English-based undergraduate programmes, September 2027 entry

  Hard deadline Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Not announced. As of 23 September 2026 Waseda's page carries only the window for September 2026 entry, 8 January to 10 February 2026. One application covers all six English-based schools. Check Waseda's page for the 2027 dates.

  One application window covering the School of Political Science and Economics, School of Social Sciences, SILS, School of Culture Media and Society, and the two Science and Engineering schools. As of 23 September 2026 the only window published is 8 January to 10 February 2026, labelled for September 2026 entry. Check Waseda's page for the 2027 dates.

  Source

• Date not published

  Certificate of Eligibility, then the Student visa

  Your own plan Via Japanese university for the September or October 2027 intake

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  Not a published deadline. The university applies for the Certificate of Eligibility on your behalf once you accept; you take it to the Embassy of Japan in Copenhagen for the visa. Allow three months, and expect documents to need an apostille and sometimes notarisation.

• Date not published
  Spring 2028

  Embassy recruitment window

  Only if: Depends on your nationality: you apply through the Japanese embassy in your country of citizenship, and each decides what it offers.

  Hard deadline Via MEXT scholarship, Embassy Recommendation, for arrival in April 2028

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  MEXT's rule is relative, not a published day: "Recruitment for those arriving in Japan next April is made between April and May of the previous year." For an April 2028 arrival that is April and May 2027. The Embassy of Japan in Denmark, which sets the local dates, does not offer the undergraduate type to Danish nationals, so no day is shown. Other nationalities get their dates from the Japanese embassy in their own country.

• Date not published
  Spring 2028

  First screening by the embassy

  Only if: Depends on your nationality: you apply through the Japanese embassy in your country of citizenship, and each decides what it offers.

  Hard deadline Via MEXT scholarship, Embassy Recommendation, for arrival in April 2028

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Conducted between May and August by the Japanese embassy or consulate general. A written examination and normally an interview.

• Date not published
  Spring 2028

  Arrival in Japan

  Only if: Depends on your nationality: you apply through the Japanese embassy in your country of citizenship, and each decides what it offers.

  Hard deadline Via MEXT scholarship, Embassy Recommendation, for arrival in April 2028

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  The 2027 round required arrival between 1 and 7 April 2027, a seven-day window, with the scholarship withdrawn from anyone who could not make it. The 2028 equivalent has not been published.

• No longer offered
  Final intake September 2026

  University of Tokyo PEAK

  Details

  Closed permanently. PEAK's announcement page states: "The Admission for September 2026 Enrollment will be the last student recruitment for the PEAK." PEAK's front page puts it in the past tense — "the applications for September 2026 enrollment are now closed", "this was the final student recruitment for PEAK, and no further applications will be accepted". Its successor is not a replacement PEAK but the UTokyo College of Design, which is listed above.

  Source

• Date not published
  April 2028 arrival

  MEXT Embassy Recommendation, undergraduate

  Only if: Depends on your nationality: you apply through the Japanese embassy in your country of citizenship, and each decides what it offers.

  Hard deadline

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  No undergraduate MEXT call appears on the Embassy of Japan in Denmark’s site: its news list for the whole of 2026 carries exactly one MEXT call, for Research Students, with an application deadline of 15 June 2026. MEXT’s national rule — recruitment in April and May of the year before arrival — therefore describes a window a Danish national cannot use through this embassy. If you hold another citizenship, the embassy track runs through the Embassy of Japan in your country of citizenship — check its own call for that window. Because this rests on what the embassy's site does not list, write to the embassy at info@ch.mofa.go.jp before relying on it either way. The route that plausibly remains open to a school-leaver is university-recommendation MEXT, after admission.

  Source

English-taught bachelors

Limited but real: a few dozen fully English-taught bachelor's programmes nationally, concentrated at Waseda (six schools), Keio, Sophia, ICU, Kyoto, Tohoku, Kyushu, Nagoya, Tsukuba, Hokkaido, APU and Akita. The UTokyo College of Design opens in September 2027; PEAK, Tohoku's FGL and Sophia's Green Science and Engineering courses have closed. No national total is given here.

Proving your English

Set per programme, usually as a test. The UTokyo College of Design and Tohoku's Gateway College both want TOEFL iBT 80, IELTS 6.0, Duolingo 110 or Cambridge 169 or more; Keio PEARL wants TOEFL iBT or IELTS Academic. Whether an IB English A or B result replaces the test is not confirmed at any of them, so ask.

Local language needed?

Not for English-taught programmes

• Kyoto iUP explicitly states that Japanese proficiency is not required at the outset — the six-month preparatory course exists to build it.
• No English-taught programme requires Japanese to enrol, but essentially all of them require you to study it, and you will need it for part-time work, housing and daily life.
• APU and ICU are formally bilingual: you take courses in both languages as your Japanese improves.

Tuition, EU/EEA

Japan charges the same tuition to all nationalities — there is no EU/non-EU split.

Application fee

Charged separately by each university. Keio PEARL: JPY 35,000 for September 2027 entry. Check the others on each university's page.

• The University of Tokyo publishes an admission fee of 282,000 yen once and tuition of 642,960 yen a year. The page states no academic year and says nothing about the new College of Design. Todai has raised its tuition above the national standard of 535,800 yen, which is the reason not to quote a national figure for any particular Japanese university.
• The fee table linked from Japan's own official study-promotion site is drawn from the Student Guide to Japan 2019–2020 and converts at 114 yen to the dollar. It is the first thing an English-speaking applicant lands on and it should not be used for a 2027 or 2028 budget.
• The structure to expect: national universities charge a one-off admission fee plus an annual tuition fee, both set nationally. Private universities (Waseda, Keio, Sophia, ICU, APU) charge considerably more and vary by faculty, with science and engineering highest.
• Budget separately for the admission fee, which is charged once and is substantial, and for compulsory facility or lab fees at private universities.
• Tokyo living costs are high; Beppu (APU), Akita and Sendai (Tohoku) are dramatically cheaper.

Funding you could actually get

• MEXT (Monbukagakusho) Undergraduate Scholarship — nationally this is five years from April, one of them a preparatory year in Japanese, 117,000 yen a month, entrance examination, matriculation and tuition fees waived, and an economy air ticket each way, with all classes in Japanese except where a grantee is directly placed at a university requiring none, and with MEXT rather than the student choosing the university. It is not open to you: the Embassy of Japan in Copenhagen lists only two MEXT types for Danish nationals, Japanese Studies and Research Student, and neither is this one. On a Danish passport, from a Danish gymnasium, treat the embassy track as closed until the embassy tells you otherwise in writing.
• University-recommendation MEXT places — some universities nominate their own admitted students, and for a Danish national this is the only MEXT route that plausibly remains open, since it runs through the university rather than the embassy; other nationals may also have their own embassy's track. Ask each admissions office whether it holds MEXT quota places and how a new international entrant is considered for one.
• JASSO Honors Scholarship — a monthly grant administered by the Japan Student Services Organization for privately financed international students. Check the current amount with JASSO.
• Institutional awards decided at admission: Waseda states that recipients of its scholarships are determined by the admission result with no separate application, and that its awards are grants rather than loans.
• APU operates tuition-reduction scholarships awarded at admission at several percentage levels — check the current levels with APU.
• Kyoto iUP offers admission and tuition fee waivers plus monthly scholarships to eligible students.
• Danish SU can follow you here if you can claim it (Danish citizens, or EU/EEA citizens with equal status under EU rules) and meet the ties-to-Denmark requirement. A full degree outside the EU/EEA follows separate rules, with its own ties-to-Denmark form: check su.dk before budgeting. If you cannot claim SU, look first at your own country's student finance: several EU/EEA systems fund a full degree in another country.

Residency

Non-visa-waiver process regardless of EU citizenship. The university applies for a Certificate of Eligibility on your behalf once you accept an offer; you then take it to the Embassy of Japan in Copenhagen for a Student visa. On arrival you receive a residence card and must register at the local municipal office within 14 days and enrol in National Health Insurance.

Working

Students with College Student (留学) status may work up to 28 hours a week once they hold a blanket Permission to Engage in Activity Other Than That Permitted (Immigration Services Agency). Check the rules for longer hours in the official long vacations with your university.

Housing

Most English-taught programmes guarantee or strongly prioritise first-year places in a university dormitory or international house, which is by far the easiest route and usually cheaper than the private market. APU houses all first-year international students in AP House. Private renting in Japan involves key money, guarantor requirements and agency fees that are difficult to navigate from abroad — take the dormitory.

Healthcare

Enrolment in Japan's National Health Insurance is compulsory for anyone staying more than three months and is arranged at the municipal office when you register. It covers roughly 70% of medical costs; students typically add the university's own supplementary cover. Your EHIC does not apply in Japan.