The Heiwa Nakajima Foundation (公益財団法人平和中島財団) is a Tokyo-based private foundation that funds international graduate students in Japan with a monthly stipend of ¥100,000 to ¥130,000. Founded in 1990 by the Nakajima family — long associated with peace-building and cross-cultural educational support — the foundation has become one of the three private foundations that any serious 2027 international graduate applicant should shortlist alongside Honjo and Rotary Yoneyama. Heiwa Nakajima is particularly strong for STEM applicants and has historically funded a clear majority of its scholars in engineering, applied science, and natural-science fields. For the 2027 cycle the foundation continues its existing stipend range and one-year award structure, with applications opening in October 2026 and funding starting in April 2027.
Stipend, structure, and what is and is not covered
Heiwa Nakajima pays a flat monthly stipend with no separate tuition reimbursement, no airfare, and no research grant. Master's recipients are paid ¥100,000 per month, while doctoral recipients are paid ¥120,000–¥130,000 per month. Funds are deposited into a Japanese bank account on a fixed monthly schedule. The award covers 12 months at a time, typically April through March of the following Japanese academic year. Recipients can apply for renewal but must re-compete against the new applicant pool. Year-on-year retention is moderate: most master's recipients hold the award for one year only; doctoral recipients sometimes hold it for two. Three-year continuous tenure is rare.
Because Heiwa Nakajima is structured as living-cost support and not as full funding, recipients almost always combine it with a Japanese university tuition waiver — typically a 50–100 percent reduction on standard graduate tuition. Most Japanese national universities and several Tokyo-area private universities apply tuition reduction to international graduate students by default, so a Heiwa Nakajima recipient at, say, Tohoku or Osaka or Tokyo Tech (now Institute of Science Tokyo) typically pays no tuition out of pocket. Our breakdown of the cheapest universities in Japan for international graduates shows which institutions stack best with a Heiwa Nakajima stipend, and our analysis of MEXT stipend 2027 real costs gives a parallel cost picture for comparison.
The STEM tilt
Heiwa Nakajima's annual recipient lists, while not always public in full, consistently show a strong tilt toward STEM. Roughly two-thirds of recipients in recent cycles have come from materials science, chemistry, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, applied physics, computer science, and the agricultural/environmental sciences. Pure mathematics, theoretical physics, and life sciences are also represented. Social science and humanities applicants are not excluded — there are recipients in international relations, economics, and area studies in any given year — but the effective bar for these fields is higher because the panel's default expectation is that strong applicants come from STEM. For applicants in the artificial-intelligence, machine-learning, and computer-science track, our guide on studying AI and ML in Japan shows the kinds of research directions that align well with the foundation's priorities. Engineering doctoral applicants should also consult our engineering doctorate Japan real path guide for the typical multi-source funding stack used by Heiwa Nakajima recipients.
Who is eligible
Eligibility for Heiwa Nakajima is open to international students of any nationality at master's or doctoral level, enrolled at or holding a firm acceptance letter from a Japanese graduate school. There is no formal age limit but typical recipients are between 22 and 32. The foundation does not formally require Japanese language ability, but applicants in Japanese-medium programs should hold at least JLPT N2 in practice; English-medium-program applicants can apply without a JLPT score, although having JLPT N3 level Japanese is strongly recommended for daily life in the lab and the dormitory. Applicants concurrently holding MEXT, JDS, ADB-Japan, or any other government living-cost scholarship are not eligible — Heiwa Nakajima is explicitly designed to fill the gap for strong applicants who did not secure a government slot.
Application timing for the 2027 cycle
The Heiwa Nakajima cycle for 2027 funding follows the foundation's standard calendar:
- October 2026: application portal opens.
- Mid-December 2026: application deadline (typically the second or third week of December).
- January–February 2027: document review and shortlisting.
- February–early March 2027: interviews. In person in Tokyo for Japan-based applicants, by video for overseas applicants.
- Late March 2027: final selection announced.
- April 2027: funding starts; first stipend on or around 25 April 2027.
Heiwa Nakajima does not run a second cycle for September or October entry. Students starting an autumn-entry program in 2026 can still apply in autumn 2026 for funding starting April 2027, bridging the first six months of study with savings or alternative funding. For the broader application calendar across Japanese graduate schools, see our application timeline for Japanese graduate schools.
What the application package looks like
The Heiwa Nakajima application asks for academic transcripts (undergraduate and any prior master's), a personal statement, a research plan of two to four pages, two recommendation letters, proof of admission or current enrolment at a Japanese graduate school, a financial declaration, and a resumé. The research plan is the single most important document; panel readers come from STEM and applied-science backgrounds and they read research plans critically. A research plan that demonstrates a clear methodology, an identified Japanese supervisor, and a credible link to the applicant's prior work is much stronger than a generic statement. Recommendation letters should ideally come from research mentors who can speak to the applicant's technical capability rather than from generalist academic advisors.
The interview
Shortlisted applicants are invited to a 25–35 minute interview with a panel of five to seven reviewers — usually a mix of Heiwa Nakajima board members and senior academics in relevant fields. Questions are conversational on motivation and fit, but they are noticeably more technical than at Honjo or Rotary Yoneyama. STEM applicants should expect questions about their research methodology, experimental setup, and how their proposed work in Japan compares to alternative routes (a US PhD, a European PhD, staying in their home country). Interviews are conducted in either Japanese or English depending on the applicant's program of study. Strong applicants treat the interview as a research conversation rather than a generic scholarship pitch.
How Heiwa Nakajima fits into a 2027 funding stack
Heiwa Nakajima is most often combined with a Japanese university tuition waiver. It is compatible with the JASSO Honors Scholarship and with a part-time research-assistant appointment at the supervising lab. It is not compatible with MEXT, JDS, or any other full-funding government scholarship. For doctoral students who plan to stack funding across multiple years, Heiwa Nakajima often functions as the year-one or year-two stipend before the recipient transitions to a JST or JSPS research fellowship for the later years. Our overview of PhD in Japan funding, duration, and English-track options breaks down several real funding stacks Heiwa Nakajima recipients have used.
Country fit
Heiwa Nakajima is open to all nationalities and does not run country quotas, but in practice the recipient mix in recent cycles has been heavily weighted toward applicants from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and the Philippines, with a smaller but visible cohort from Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Country-specific MEXT readers should consult the regional guides for Indian students, Vietnamese students, and Indonesian students, since Heiwa Nakajima is one of the strongest fallbacks if the embassy MEXT track does not come through. Applicants from the United States should additionally read studying in Japan from the USA for how Heiwa Nakajima compares to Fulbright Japan, and applicants from India should read studying in Japan from India.
The 2027 outlook and how to position your application
Heiwa Nakajima's 2027 cycle continues the existing structure with no announced changes. The foundation's strongest application profile remains: a STEM applicant with a clear research direction, a confirmed Japanese supervisor, a research plan that reads as a continuation of prior work, and a credible career plan that links the Japan experience back to a real problem (industrial, scientific, or developmental). Applicants who treat the foundation as a fallback to MEXT and submit a recycled MEXT application tend to do worse than applicants who write a Heiwa Nakajima-specific package. To position your overall 2027 funding strategy correctly, also read English-taught master's in Japan 2027 and the MEXT scholarship 2027 complete guide. Browse the full scholarship database and all university profiles to identify the institutions most likely to pair a tuition waiver with a Heiwa Nakajima stipend for your specific field.