JSPS Invitational Fellowships for Research in Japan FY2027: ¥387,600 a Month for a 2–10 Month Visit or ¥18,000 a Day for a 14–60 Day Visit, With 145 First-Round Awards Closing 28 August 2026

JSPS Invitational Fellowships for Research in Japan FY2027: ¥387,600 a Month for a 2–10 Month Visit or ¥18,000 a Day for a 14–60 Day Visit, With 145 First-Round Awards Closing 28 August 2026

Most international mobility schemes are built for people at the start of a career. The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science runs one that is built for the opposite end of it. The Invitational Fellowships for Research in Japan exist so that a Japanese research group can bring in an established overseas colleague — a professor, an associate professor, an assistant professor, or a long-tenured independent researcher — to do real collaborative work on Japanese soil, with JSPS covering the flight, the living costs, the insurance, and a slice of the research expenses.

The FY2027 first round closes on 28 August 2026 at 5 p.m. Japan Standard Time, and it covers two categories at once: the long-term fellowship, which funds two to ten months of collaborative research, and the first recruitment of the short-term fellowship, which funds a 14 to 60 day visit for discussions, lectures, and opinion exchange. Together they carry roughly 145 awards in that single deadline — about 60 long-term and about 85 short-term.

There is one structural fact that decides whether this program is available to you at all, and it catches a lot of people: you do not apply. Your Japanese host does. JSPS accepts applications only from a host researcher in Japan, submitted through the head of their institution. If you are an overseas researcher reading this with no Japanese collaborator lined up, your real task between now and late August is not paperwork — it is finding and convincing a host.

Key details at a glance

What the money actually covers

The two categories are funded on different logics, and it is worth understanding why before you pick one.

The long-term fellowship [L] pays a maintenance allowance of JPY 387,600 per month. Over the maximum ten-month tenure that is nearly ¥3.9 million. It is calculated in full-month units, so a stay of “about three and a half months” does not exist as far as the budget is concerned — you plan in whole months. JSPS is explicit that an extension will not be authorized under any circumstances, so the tenure you propose is the tenure you get.

The short-term fellowship [S] pays JPY 18,000 per day for 14 to 60 days. At the 60-day ceiling that comes to ¥1,080,000. The daily structure fits the purpose: short-term is not framed as a sustained research residency but as a visit for discussions, opinion exchange, lectures, and other collaborative activity.

Both categories add the same three things: a round-trip economy-class air ticket booked according to JSPS’s own regulations, overseas travel insurance, and a research support allowance of up to JPY 150,000. That last item is not paid to you — the host researcher applies for it through their institution, and it exists to cover the practical costs of running the collaboration on the Japanese side.

One exclusion is worth flagging early. If you are already staying in Japan before the fellowship start date, JSPS will not pay airfare for the flight to Japan. The fellowship period is formally defined as running from the day you arrive at a Japanese airport to the day you depart from one, which is a clean rule for someone flying in and a fuzzier one for someone already resident — read that clause carefully if it applies to you.

Who is eligible, and the six-year clause that widens the door

There are two eligibility tests here, one for the candidate and one for the host, and both must hold as of 1 April 2027 and throughout the fellowship.

The candidate (invited overseas researcher) must satisfy two conditions. First, be a citizen or permanent resident of a country that has diplomatic relations with Japan; JSPS states that Taiwan and Palestine are treated in this manner. Persons of Japanese nationality are eligible only if they have resided abroad for ten years or longer at the time of application and the host institution judges them to have played an active role in that country’s scientific community. JSPS further constrains this by screening criterion: the number of selectees with Japanese nationality is kept to no more than about 3% of all selectees in a recruitment.

Second — and this is the seniority test — be a full-time researcher, or hold full-time researcher status, at a university or research institution in a foreign country, in a position equivalent to a professor, associate professor, or assistant professor in Japan. JSPS explicitly includes positions such as professor emeritus.

The clause that opens the program up beyond conventional faculty is the alternative route: researchers of other status may apply if it has been six years or longer since they obtained their doctoral degree and the host institution judges that they have continuously conducted research at a foreign university or research institution. If you are a senior staff scientist, a long-serving research fellow, or someone at a national laboratory whose title does not map neatly onto Japanese professorial ranks, that sentence is your entry point. Note the second half of it — the judgement rests with the host institution, so your host needs to be able to make that case internally.

The host researcher must be affiliated with an institution specified under Article 2 of MEXT’s Procedure for the Handling of KAKENHI grants, be eligible to apply for KAKENHI, and want to host an overseas researcher. Eligible institutions are universities and inter-university research institutes, MEXT-affiliated research institutions, colleges of technology, and institutions designated by the Minister of MEXT. The host must be a full-time researcher, though a non-full-time researcher can qualify if the institution judges they can carry the hosting responsibility uninterrupted and provide a suitable research environment.

The application limits that quietly disqualify people

JSPS caps parallel applications, and the rules are easy to trip over.

A candidate may apply for only one of the three categories — [P] postdoctoral, [L] long-term invitational, or [S] short-term invitational — per recruitment. If the same candidate is somehow submitted through two different host researchers for calls with the same JSPS deadline, JSPS will accept only one of the applications.

Candidates selected in the first recruitment for either [L] or [S] may not apply for an [S] fellowship in the second recruitment of the same fiscal year. In other words, winning in August 2026 closes the April 2027 door for you.

On the host side, for [L] and [S] the limit is one candidate per recruitment. In the first recruitment a host may submit one application in either [L] or [S] — not one of each. In the second recruitment a host may submit one [S] application regardless of whether they applied in the first. This matters if you are talking to a Japanese colleague who is also being courted by another overseas researcher: they have exactly one slot, and you want to know early whether it is yours.

There is also a conduct-based bar. If a host researcher commits an unethical act and is punished by their institution, they are restricted from applying for a JSPS International Fellowship for five years from the date the punishment is administered.

How the application is built and submitted

Everything goes through the JSPS Electronic Application System for International Collaborations. Postal applications are not accepted. The host researcher obtains an ID and password from their institution if they do not already have one; the system opens roughly two months before the JSPS deadline, so expect it to be live around late June 2026 for the August round.

For the long-term category there are three forms:

• L-1 — entered directly on the website by the host researcher: name, affiliated organization, research theme, fellowship tenure. One sheet.
• L-2 — the Research Proposal Document, prepared jointly by the host researcher and the candidate. Seven sheets. Covers purpose and significance, the invitation plan, capacity to conduct the research, and contribution to advancing science. Downloaded as a Word form and uploaded as PDF or Word.
• L-3 — the fellow’s curriculum vitae, prepared by the candidate in cooperation with the host. Two sheets: CV plus research achievements and results.

The short-term set mirrors this as S-1, S-2, and S-3, with the key difference that S-2 is five sheets rather than seven. Except where indicated otherwise, forms may be completed in either English or Japanese.

The submission chain has three links and each one has its own clock. The host researcher completes and sends the application to their host institution by the institution’s internal deadline. The institution verifies the contents, obtains approval from the head of the institution, verifies the List of Candidates, and then submits to JSPS by 28 August 2026.

That middle step is where applications die. JSPS states plainly that each host institution may set its own deadline, which can be more than one month before the JSPS deadline. A late-July internal cutoff is entirely normal. If you are the overseas candidate, the single most useful question to ask your host this week is not about the science — it is “what is your university’s internal deadline, and have you confirmed it with the research administration office?”

How applications are judged

Selection runs in two stages: a document review, then a panel review, both under the JSPS International Program Committee. Each application is read by three examiners, assigned as subject-field experts based on the content of the application. The host researcher chooses the review section from the published Review Section Table, and JSPS also publishes a Review Section Set pairing each section with its reviewers — worth consulting before the section is locked in, since it determines who reads your proposal.

The published screening criteria for the invitational categories are specific enough to write toward:

1. The collaboration will contribute to advancing science in Japan and other countries.
2. The collaboration can be expected to advance research in the subject field, with evaluation placing emphasis on the researcher invited from abroad.
3. The host researcher and the candidate have established contact in advance and created a concrete research plan.
4. The host institution has adequately prepared a system for receiving the candidate.
5. The plan can be carried out within the period of the fellowship tenure.
6. The plan has as its objective joint research or other collaborative activities between researchers in Japan and the candidate.
7. Imbalance in selectees’ nationalities, host institutions, and areas of specialization is avoided as far as possible.
8. Not only the document review score but the examiners’ stated reasons and comments are given adequate consideration.
9. Japanese-national selectees are held to no more than about 3% of all selectees in a recruitment.
10. Two judgements only: selected, or not selected.

Criteria 3 and 5 are the ones that separate funded proposals from plausible ones. A proposal that reads as though the host and the candidate met over email last month will not survive a panel that has been told to look for prior contact and a concrete plan. Neither will a ten-month workplan compressed into a 30-day short-term visit — reviewers are explicitly asked whether the plan fits the tenure.

Your realistic odds

JSPS publishes selection ratios, which is more transparency than most funders offer. For FY2026:

• Long-term: 329 applications, 60 selected — 18.2%
• Short-term, first recruitment: 441 applications, 85 selected — 19.3%
• Short-term, second recruitment: 587 applications, 75 selected — 12.8%

The FY2025 figures were materially easier: 25.4% for long-term, 23.5% for short-term first round, and 19.6% for short-term second round. Applications rose across all three categories in FY2026 while award counts stayed flat, and the award counts published for FY2027 are identical again (60, 85, 75). If the application growth continues, expect FY2027 ratios at or below the FY2026 level.

The practical read: the first recruitment is meaningfully less competitive than the second for short-term applicants — 19.3% versus 12.8% in FY2026. If you are choosing between applying now and waiting for April 2027, the August round is the better bet, and it is the only round that offers the long-term category at all.

Building the case between now and 28 August

If you already have a host, the work is proposal quality. Form L-2’s seven sheets are structured around purpose and significance, the invitation plan, capacity to conduct the research, and contribution to advancing science — write to those four headings rather than reformatting a grant proposal you already have. The invitation plan should be legible as a schedule: what happens in month one, what the joint output is, which Japanese researchers beyond the host are involved, and what continues after you leave.

If you do not have a host, that is the gating task. Realistic routes are co-authors you already publish with, researchers whose work you have cited substantively and can write to with a specific proposal rather than a general enquiry, and program officers at JSPS overseas offices who can point you toward groups in your field. Give the host something to work with: a one-page concept, your CV, and a clear statement of the dates you can travel. Remember they have one slot per recruitment.

Two housekeeping items deserve attention early. JSPS notes that host institutions are required to establish research ethics coursework for invited overseas researchers, so expect to complete an e-learning module. And if you are a national of the Philippines, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar, or China, check the Japan Pre-Entry Tuberculosis Screening (JPETS) requirements for mid- to long-term residents — as of April 2026 the commencement dates for Indonesia, Myanmar, and China were still being coordinated, but a long-term fellow on a multi-month stay may fall within scope.

Finally, JSPS states in the FY2027 guidelines that using generative AI to prepare an application carries risks of copyright infringement and leakage of personal or confidential information, and that it is the applicant’s responsibility to weigh that risk. It is not a prohibition, but it is a documented position, and forged or falsified content in an application results in rejection or withdrawal of an awarded fellowship.

Common mistakes

Treating this as a fellowship you apply for. You cannot submit. Every hour spent perfecting your CV before you have a committed Japanese host is an hour spent on the wrong problem.

Missing the institutional deadline. The 28 August date is when the institution must reach JSPS. Your host’s university may want everything a month or more earlier.

Proposing a tenure that does not fit the plan. Long-term is billed in whole months and cannot be extended. Short-term is capped at 60 days. Reviewers check feasibility within tenure explicitly.

Double-applying. One candidate, one category, one recruitment. Two hosts submitting the same candidate for the same deadline means one application is discarded.

Assuming a non-professorial title disqualifies you. The six-years-post-doctorate route is real, but your host institution has to affirm continuous research activity abroad — give them the evidence to do it.

Forgetting the airfare exclusion. Already in Japan when the fellowship starts? No inbound flight is paid.

Frequently asked questions

Which fields are covered? All fields of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Can I apply for both long-term and short-term to hedge? No. A candidate may apply for only one of [P], [L], or [S], and a host may submit only one [L] or [S] application per recruitment.

When would I actually travel? Any time in the arrival window of 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2028 for the first-round awards. Tenure may start at any point in that window, so a fellowship can end in the following fiscal year.

When do I hear back? Late December 2026 for the August round.

Is there family support or a settling-in allowance? The published terms of financial support for the invitational categories list airfare, the maintenance allowance, overseas travel insurance, and the research support allowance. Nothing further is confirmed in the FY2027 application guidelines, and dependants’ support is not stated.

Are the amounts guaranteed? JSPS states that both the approximate number of fellowships and the amounts of financial support are subject to change for budgetary reasons.

What if I miss August? The short-term second recruitment closes 23 April 2027 at 5 p.m. JST, with results in early August 2027 and arrival between 1 October 2027 and 31 March 2028, offering roughly 75 awards. The long-term category has no second round.

Official links

• FY2027 application guidelines, forms, and review section tables: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-inv/application/guideline.html
• Application schedule and deadlines: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-inv/application/index.html
• Program overview: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-inv/
• Selection process: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-inv/selectionprocess.html
• Published selection ratios: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-inv/adoption.html
• Program guidelines for selected fellows: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-inv/guideline.html
• FAQ: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-inv/faq.html
• JSPS Electronic Application System: https://www-shinsei.jsps.go.jp/topkokusai/top_kokusai.html
• Overseas Fellowship Division, JSPS: [email protected], +81-3-3263-2480

JSPS notes that the English guidelines are a translation and that the Japanese text takes precedence where wording or interpretation differs. Confirm dates, amounts, and eligibility against the official pages before committing, and confirm your host institution’s internal deadline before anything else.