🌍 Accepted By

948 schools/institutions use EJU as of August 2026, including 505 universities, 51 graduate schools, 51 colleges of technology and other institutions. For your 'Accepted Universities Count' field specifically, use 505 universities rather than the 948 total schools figure

👤 Who Should Take This Exam?

EJU is intended for international, non-Japanese-citizen students who want to apply for undergraduate admission to Japanese universities, junior colleges, or colleges of technology, since most of these institutions require an EJU score, a Japanese-language qualification, or both as part of the application file. It is taken both by students studying at Japanese-language schools inside Japan and by applicants who sit the exam at one of JASSO's overseas test sites in countries such as India, Vietnam, or Indonesia before ever traveling to Japan. Students planning to study in English-medium programs can choose to take the Science and Mathematics sections in English, but they should check individual program requirements first, since some faculties still expect a separate Japanese-proficiency credential regardless of the language chosen for EJU. Because scores remain valid for two years, students sometimes sit EJU more than once to improve a specific section before applying, rather than treating a single sitting as their only opportunity.

🎓 Education Level

🌍 Accepted In

Japan Hong Kong India Indonesia Malaysia Mongolia Myanmar Philippines South Korea Singapore Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand Vietnam; JASSO also oversees EJU administration in 11 countries/regions in addition to Japan

📑 Section Details

Japanese covers Reading, Listening, and Writing. Science includes Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (choose 2). Japan and the World covers Liberal Arts.

How Scoring Works

Scoring is based on Item Response Theory (IRT), which adjusts for the relative difficulty of the specific question set used in a given session so that scores from the June and November administrations remain comparable to one another. Japanese as a Foreign Language is reported across several separate sub-scores covering Reading, Listening, and combined Listening-Reading comprehension, plus a separately graded Writing component, rather than a single combined language score. Science and Mathematics scores are also scaled using IRT and reported within the 0-200 range per subject, so a raw count of correct answers does not translate directly into the reported scaled score. Because IRT scoring depends on the performance of the full cohort taking that session, candidates cannot precisely predict their scaled score purely from the number of questions they believe they answered correctly.

🏆 Minimum Scores for Top Universities

There is no official minimum set by JASSO itself; each university and faculty instead publishes its own required or recommended EJU scores as part of its own admissions criteria. Reported thresholds vary widely by competitiveness: many national universities look for a Japanese-language score above roughly 280-320 out of 400 for direct undergraduate admission, while the most selective faculties at top-ranked universities may expect 340 or higher, often alongside strong subject-specific scores of 150 or more out of 200 in Science, Mathematics, or Japan and the World. Programs taught in English typically weight the Science and Mathematics scores more heavily than the Japanese-language score, so an applicant's realistic 'minimum' depends heavily on whether they are applying to a Japanese-medium or English-medium program. Because EJU results are only one part of a university's admissions file alongside interviews and documentary screening, meeting a published score threshold does not guarantee admission on its own.

All Sub-Scores

Reading, Listening-Reading, Listening, Writing

See all ▾

75

See all ▾

6200

📆 Available Months

✅ What to Bring

🚫 Prohibited Items

📋 Exam Day Rules

Strict adherence to seating charts, no electronic devices, and silence during listening sections.

💡 Top Tips & Tricks

🔍 Insider Tips

⭐ Unique Features

EJU supports a distinctive 'pre-arrival admission' pathway that lets international students apply to and be conditionally accepted by a Japanese university entirely from their home country, using their EJU and language results, before ever traveling to Japan for enrollment. It is also unusual in letting candidates choose the exam language for Science and Mathematics between Japanese and English, which lets students in English-medium degree programs demonstrate subject mastery without needing native-level Japanese in those subjects. JASSO administers EJU not only across Japan but also at dozens of overseas test sites in more than a dozen countries and regions, making it one of the few university-entrance exams a student can complete without leaving their home country at all. Scores also remain valid for two years across four exam sessions, giving applicants more flexibility to retake specific components than many single-sitting national entrance exams allow.

🎓 How This Score Impacts Your Application

Primary criterion for admission and for awarding the Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship.