The Inpex Scholarship Foundation (公益財団法人国際石油・天然ガス・金属鉱物資源奨学財団) is the private scholarship arm of Inpex Corporation, Japan's largest oil and natural gas producer. Established in 1981, the foundation funds STEM graduate students from a defined list of Asian and Middle Eastern countries — particularly Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, and the Philippines — at Japanese universities, with a stipend of ¥150,000 per month plus a research grant of roughly ¥600,000–¥1,000,000 per year. Among foundation scholarships available to international graduate students in Japan, Inpex is one of the most generous in absolute monetary terms — the combined stipend and research grant beat Honjo, Heiwa Nakajima, and Rotary Yoneyama on cash value — but it is also the narrowest in eligibility. Applicants must come from an eligible country, must be enrolled in a STEM field, and must propose research with a credible link to energy, natural resources, or the green-energy transition. For applicants who fit the eligibility envelope, Inpex is probably the strongest scholarship target in the entire 2027 calendar after MEXT.
Stipend, research grant, and what is covered
Inpex pays a monthly stipend of ¥150,000, deposited into a Japanese bank account, for the standard duration of the recipient's degree program. Master's recipients are typically funded for 24 months; doctoral recipients for 36 months. Beyond the stipend, the foundation pays an annual research grant of approximately ¥600,000–¥1,000,000 — the exact amount varies by year and project — that the recipient can use for research expenses including conference travel, fieldwork, equipment purchases, and small consumables. This research grant is an unusual and valuable feature: most other private foundations (Honjo, Heiwa Nakajima, Rotary Yoneyama) pay only a stipend with no research grant component.
Tuition is not directly reimbursed, but Inpex recipients almost always also hold a Japanese university tuition waiver — a 50–100 percent reduction that most national universities and several Tokyo-area private universities apply to international graduate students by default. The combined effect is that an Inpex recipient with a tuition waiver typically pays no tuition out of pocket, receives ¥150,000/month in stipend, and has ¥600,000–¥1,000,000/year for research expenses — a total package that compares favourably with MEXT in cash terms while leaving the recipient with significantly more research autonomy. Our breakdown of the cheapest universities in Japan for international graduates shows which institutions stack best with an Inpex stipend, and our parallel analysis of MEXT stipend 2027 real costs gives the comparable picture for MEXT.
Country eligibility and the Inpex country list
Inpex is restricted to applicants from a defined list of countries with which Inpex Corporation has historical operations or strategic interest in energy and natural resources. The 2027 country list is broadly Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, and a smaller annual rotation of countries that includes Thailand, Myanmar, the United Arab Emirates, and a handful of others. The list is published on the foundation's website at the start of each cycle. Applicants must be citizens of an eligible country at the time of application. Permanent residents and dual nationals are handled case-by-case, with the foundation generally requiring the applicant to apply on the eligible-country passport.
Country-specific applicants should consult our regional MEXT guides as the parallel reference: the Indian students MEXT guide, Vietnamese students MEXT guide, and Indonesian students MEXT guide all flag Inpex as one of the strongest foundation alternatives for STEM applicants from those countries. Indonesian applicants in particular often apply to Inpex in parallel with embassy MEXT and LPDP, with the foundation offering the most generous package of the three for petroleum, geology, and energy-engineering applicants.
Field eligibility — what STEM means at Inpex
Inpex is a STEM-only scholarship with a clear preference for fields connected to energy, natural resources, environmental science, and supporting engineering. Petroleum engineering, geology, geophysics, mining engineering, chemical engineering, materials science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, environmental engineering, environmental sciences, and the earth sciences all sit clearly within scope. Renewable energy, hydrogen, carbon capture, geothermal, offshore wind, energy storage, and the broader green-energy transition have become increasingly central to Inpex funding as the parent corporation has pivoted toward energy transition. Pure mathematics, pure physics, social sciences, humanities, business, law, medicine, biomedical sciences, and life sciences are not eligible.
Computer science applicants occupy a grey zone. Inpex will fund computer-science applicants whose work has a clear energy or natural-resource application — for example, machine learning for seismic-data interpretation, optimisation algorithms for power-grid management, or computer-vision pipelines for environmental monitoring — but not generic AI/ML or core CS applicants. Our guide on studying AI and ML in Japan shows the kinds of energy-applied AI directions that align well with Inpex priorities. Engineering doctoral applicants in energy, materials, or environmental fields should also consult our engineering doctorate Japan real path guide for the typical multi-year funding plan around an Inpex master's award.
The 2027 application calendar
Inpex runs one cycle per year. For 2027 funding the timeline is approximately:
- October 2026: application portal opens.
- Late November–early December 2026: application deadline.
- December 2026 – January 2027: document review and shortlisting.
- February 2027: in-person interviews in Tokyo for finalist candidates. Travel and accommodation are paid by the foundation for finalists travelling from outside Japan.
- March 2027: final selection announced.
- April 2027: funding starts; first stipend on or around 25 April 2027.
The in-person interview is one of the distinctive features of the Inpex selection process — most other foundation scholarships now allow video interviews for overseas applicants, but Inpex covers the cost of bringing finalists to Tokyo, partly because the interview doubles as a meeting with foundation board members and Inpex Corporation representatives. For the broader application calendar across Japanese graduate schools, see our application timeline for Japanese graduate schools.
What the application package looks like
The Inpex application asks for academic transcripts, a personal statement, a research plan of three to five pages with a clear methodology and intended outputs, two recommendation letters (preferably from research mentors), proof of admission or current enrolment at a Japanese graduate school, a financial declaration, and a resumé. The research plan is the most heavily weighted item: panel readers come from energy, petroleum, geology, and applied-science backgrounds, and they expect a research plan that reads as a credible methodologically-specific project. A research plan that explicitly identifies how the proposed work connects to energy, natural-resource, or environmental challenges is dramatically stronger than a generic statement of purpose. Applicants from Indonesia working on geothermal, applicants from Vietnam working on offshore engineering, applicants from Bangladesh working on environmental engineering, applicants from India working on materials for energy storage, and applicants from the Philippines working on grid integration all match the foundation's sweet spot.
The interview
Shortlisted applicants are invited to a 30–40 minute interview in Tokyo with a panel of five to eight reviewers — Inpex board members, senior Inpex Corporation representatives from the relevant business units, and academic advisors from partner Japanese universities. Questions are technical: applicants should expect detailed probing of their research methodology, the specific Japanese supervisor they intend to work with, the facilities they intend to use, the experimental or computational outputs they expect, and the post-graduation plan. Many panellists have direct industry experience in the applicant's home country and ask questions about local context. The interview is held in English by default, with Japanese accepted for applicants who prefer it.
Combining Inpex with other funding
Inpex prohibits concurrent receipt of MEXT, JDS, ADB-Japan, or any other government living-cost scholarship. It is compatible with a Japanese university tuition waiver, with the JASSO Honors Scholarship, and with a part-time research-assistant appointment at the supervising lab. Country- specific government scholarships from the applicant's home country (LPDP for Indonesia, for example) are reviewed case-by-case and disallowed where they already cover full living costs. For doctoral students who plan to stack funding across multiple years, an Inpex master's award is often followed by a JST or JSPS doctoral fellowship — see our PhD in Japan funding, duration, and English-track options for several real Inpex-anchored funding stacks.
Country-specific positioning
Applicants from India should read our studying in Japan from India guide to see how Inpex compares to JN Tata, Inlaks, and other Indian routes. The foundation's strong India quota and its overlap with Indian energy and metallurgy talent make Inpex a particularly strong target for IIT and NIT-graduate applicants. Applicants from the United States are not eligible for Inpex but should consult studying in Japan from the USA for the comparable funding picture there.
Background Japanese for Inpex recipients
Inpex does not formally require a JLPT certificate and the application and interview can be conducted entirely in English. In practice, recipients in Japanese-medium programs need at least JLPT N2; recipients in English-medium programs are strongly advised to reach JLPT N3 level Japanese before arriving in Japan. The host university's lab life — equipment ordering, conversations with Japanese lab members, building maintenance, and so on — runs in Japanese regardless of the program's teaching language.
The 2027 outlook
Inpex's 2027 cycle continues the existing structure: ¥150,000/month plus an annual research grant, eligibility restricted to STEM applicants from the foundation's country list, with a clear preference for energy, natural-resource, and environmental research. The foundation has not announced any change to recipient numbers or the country mix. For eligible applicants Inpex is one of the most generous and most strategically valuable scholarships in the 2027 Japan calendar, and should sit alongside MEXT and a major private foundation as a top-three target. To position Inpex correctly in your overall strategy, 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 for the institutions and labs most likely to pair an Inpex stipend with strong energy or resource-focused research.