The EJU exam is Japan’s entrance test for international students who want an undergraduate seat at a Japanese university. It is run by JASSO, the Japan Student Services Organization, it runs twice a year in June and November, and yes, it is held in India. New Delhi is the only Indian centre, the fee is about 1,350 rupees, and the next sitting is Sunday 8 November 2026.
Before the details, the confusion that brings most people to this page. The EJU is not a Japanese language certificate. That is the JLPT, a completely different exam run by a completely different organisation. The EJU is an admission exam that happens to include a Japanese paper. Nobody asks you for “EJU N2” because EJU has no levels.
And here is the thing that actually decides whether you ever sit it. The EJU exists to test you in the language your degree will be taught in. If your target degree is taught in Japanese, you will almost certainly need it. If it is taught in English, most Japanese universities will take your Class XII marks and an IELTS or TOEFL score instead.
That second case covers a large share of what Indian students realistically apply to when they plan a degree in Japan, so a lot of readers will finish this page having decided not to sit the exam at all. That is a valid outcome, but it is not a free pass. The English-taught routes swap the EJU for something else, and at one or two well-known universities that something else is harder for a CBSE student than the EJU would have been.
What is the EJU exam, and what does it actually test?
The EJU tests academic Japanese plus one or two school subjects, and you pick the papers your target university tells you to pick. It is not a fixed exam that everybody sits in the same shape. JASSO’s own guidelines say examinees “select the subject tests that they will take” based on the university and course they want.
| Paper | What it covers | Time | Score range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese as a Foreign Language | Reading, listening, and listening-reading comprehension, plus a written composition | 125 minutes | 0 to 400, plus 0 to 50 for writing |
| Science | Choose two of physics, chemistry and biology | 80 minutes | 0 to 200 |
| Japan and the World | Civics (politics and economics), geography and history, taught as one paper | 80 minutes | 0 to 200 |
| Mathematics | Course 1 for arts and lighter science degrees, Course 2 for maths-heavy degrees | 80 minutes | 0 to 200 |
Four rules follow from that table and they trip people up in order.
- You cannot take both Science and Japan and the World. JASSO states this outright. Engineering applicants take Science, arts and commerce applicants take Japan and the World.
- Everything except the Japanese paper can be written in English. The 2026 guidelines say the EJU “is available in Japanese or English, except for the Japanese as a Foreign Language test, which is given in Japanese only”. So an Indian applicant with no Japanese at all can still sit Maths Course 2 and Science in English.
- Everything is multiple choice except the Japanese composition. That composition is the only place you write Japanese from scratch.
- There is no pass and no fail. The EJU reports scores. Universities decide what those scores are worth.
One current detail worth knowing if you are buying prep material. JASSO revised the syllabuses for Science, Japan and the World, and Mathematics with effect from the June 2026 sitting, following Japan’s 2018 school curriculum reform. Chemistry gained solubility product and enthalpy, biology gained ecosystems and human activities, and mathematics gained expected value in both courses and probability distributions in Course 2. The Japanese paper was left alone. Past papers older than June 2026 no longer match three of the four subjects.
EJU or JLPT, which exam do you actually need?
They are not interchangeable and they are not competing versions of the same thing. The JLPT is a language certificate that proves how much Japanese you know. The EJU is an admission exam that a university uses to rank you against other applicants. A Japanese-taught degree usually wants the EJU. An employer, a visa points calculation or a language school usually wants the JLPT.
| EJU | JLPT | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Undergraduate admission exam | Language proficiency certificate |
| Run by | JASSO, with Japan’s education and foreign ministries | The Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services |
| What it tests | Academic Japanese, plus science, maths or Japan and the World | Vocabulary and grammar, reading, listening. Nothing else |
| Writing and speaking | Has a Japanese composition paper | Neither. JLPT states it “does not include sections to measure speaking or writing proficiency directly” |
| Result you get | Scaled scores. No pass mark, no levels | A pass or fail at one level, N5 up to N1, with a sectional minimum in every section |
| Language of the paper | Japanese, or English for the non-Japanese subjects | Japanese only |
| When | June and November | July and December |
| Centres in India | New Delhi only | Eight cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata |
| Centres worldwide | 17 cities across 13 countries and regions | 280 cities across 96 countries and regions |
| How long it lasts | Two years, which is four sittings | The certificate never expires |
The scale difference in those last rows explains most of the mix-up. The JLPT is a global exam you can sit in eight Indian cities. The EJU is a small, specialised exam with one Indian centre. And in New Delhi, both of them are run by the same organisation, the Mombusho Scholars Association of India, from the same office on Barakhamba Road. It is genuinely easy to walk in for one and think you have booked the other.
Sitting the EJU is about getting admitted. Sitting the JLPT is about being allowed to live, work and study once you are there.
Is the EJU held in India, and what does it cost?
Yes. The EJU runs in New Delhi in both June and November, and it is the only Indian city on JASSO’s list. It is administered by the Mombusho Scholars Association of India, JASSO’s appointed overseas representative, at 27 Barakhamba Road, under the supervision of the Embassy of Japan. Registration is entirely online.
| Item | June 2026 sitting | November 2026 sitting |
|---|---|---|
| Exam date | Sunday 21 June 2026 | Sunday 8 November 2026 |
| Application window | 16 February to 12 March 2026 | 6 July to 30 July 2026, closing 5:00 pm |
| Results | 28 July 2026 | 15 December 2026 |
| Centre | New Delhi | New Delhi |
| Fee | 1,300 rupees per JASSO, 1,350 rupees on MOSAI’s own payment page | |
Two things about that fee are worth pausing on. First, the two official figures disagree. JASSO’s 2026 guidelines print INR 1,300 and MOSAI’s own registration page asks for Rs.1350, most likely a payment loading. The portal figure is what your card will be charged, so budget 1,350.
Second, India’s fee is flat and it did not move this year. A candidate sitting the same exam in Japan pays 12,000 yen for one subject and 23,000 yen for two or three, and those Japanese fees rose by about a fifth in 2026 from 10,000 and 19,000. Hong Kong, South Korea and Mongolia went up too. India stayed at 1,300 and, unlike Japan, charges you the same whether you sit one paper or all three. Comparing JASSO’s 2025 and 2026 guideline documents side by side is the only way to see that, and it is the strongest cost argument for sitting the exam here rather than after you land.
You also do not need to have finished school. MOSAI states the minimum qualification to sit the EJU is Class 11 or higher, and JASSO’s own FAQ goes further, saying “no specific qualifications are needed, anyone can take the EJU”, with no age limit and no cap on attempts. You will still need 12 years of schooling to actually enrol at a university, but you can sit the exam in Class 11, see your score, and sit it again.
Be realistic about how small this is. For the June 2026 sitting, 241 people applied to the New Delhi centre, out of 30,804 applicants worldwide. In November 2025, Delhi took 296 applications and only 170 people actually turned up, so nearly half the Indians who paid did not sit the paper. Registration does not fill up in hours the way JLPT Delhi does, but the flip side is that there is no second Indian city if you miss the window, and no corrections are allowed after 30 July.
How is the EJU scored, and what counts as a good score?
Your reported score is not your raw mark. JASSO converts raw marks into scaled scores using item response theory, so a 240 from a hard November paper means the same as a 240 from an easy June paper. That is why universities can quote a single number across sittings. Only the Japanese composition escapes this, and it is graded to a fixed set of standards instead.
That composition is the detail almost nobody explains. It is not scored out of 50 continuously. JASSO awards it as one of 0, 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 or 50. That is why Ritsumeikan publishes a writing requirement of “35 and above” rather than 33, and why you cannot creep over a threshold by half a mark. You either land the band or you do not.
Scores stay valid for two years, which is four sittings, and you may submit the best one your university allows. But every subject you submit has to come from the same sitting. You cannot pair your strong June Japanese score with your strong November maths score.
To read a published cut-off you first need to know what the maximum is, and JASSO never spells it out in one place.
Full EJU total = Japanese 400 + Writing 50 + Science or Japan and the World 200 + Mathematics 200 = 850
Worked example. Yokohama National University’s engineering and science route publishes a minimum of “80% of the total score, 680 or above out of 850”. Now compare that with what an ordinary candidate scored at the November 2025 sitting. The average was 235.4 on Japanese, 34.3 on writing, 105.6 across physics and chemistry, and 109.0 on Maths Course 2. That adds up to about 484 out of 850, roughly 57%. Yokohama’s floor sits about 196 marks above the average person in the hall.
Here is how the published requirements compare with those averages. JASSO collects these figures from universities itself, in a survey run between July and October 2025.
| University | Published requirement | How that compares |
|---|---|---|
| Doshisha University (most faculties) | Japanese 315 | 80 marks above the 235.4 average |
| Ritsumeikan University (Policy Science, Economics, Management and others) | Japanese 280 and writing 35 | 45 above average on Japanese, roughly average on writing |
| Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (Japanese-basis route) | Japanese 250 and writing 30 | 15 above average on Japanese, and below average on writing |
| Iwate University (Science and Engineering) | Japanese 260 | 25 above average |
| Yokohama National University (Engineering, Science) | 680 out of 850 | About 196 above the average combined total |
| Institute of Science Tokyo (Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering) | Japanese optional. Science and Maths Course 2 together, 350 or more | About 135 above the average combined science and maths total |
Read that last row twice. A national university in Tokyo publishes a route where the Japanese paper is optional and only your science and maths scores count. That is the shape of EJU that is genuinely open to an Indian applicant with no Japanese, and it is nothing like the picture most guides paint. JASSO’s own caveat still applies, that these figures are only one measure and admission also rests on documents and an interview.
Which Japanese universities require the EJU?
Most of them, if you are applying to a degree taught in Japanese. Japan’s official Study in Japan portal states that 479 Japanese universities, over 60% of all universities in Japan and including most national universities, require submission of EJU scores. That is the reason the exam matters at all.
A smaller group goes further and will admit you from India without you ever flying over. JASSO calls this pre-arrival admission, defined as a system letting international students outside Japan “secure admission to the higher educational institutions in Japan without having to go to Japan”. As of July 2026, 267 schools offer it.
- 24 national universities and 4 local public universities
- 85 private universities and 5 professional and vocational universities
- 51 KOSEN colleges of technology and 83 professional training colleges
- 9 junior colleges and 6 graduate schools
That last number settles a question people ask constantly. The EJU is not a route into a Japanese master’s. JASSO describes it as an exam for study “at the undergraduate level”, and only 6 of those 267 institutions are graduate schools. If you are heading for a postgraduate degree, your route is a supervisor, a research plan and a departmental entrance exam, which is a different process covered on our masters, MBA and PhD in Japan page.
Which English-taught degrees let you skip the EJU?
A growing number, and this is where most Indian applicants actually land. English-taught bachelor’s programmes at Japanese universities generally admit on your school-leaving qualification plus an English test, with the EJU either optional or not accepted at all. What varies, sharply, is which school-leaving qualification they will take.
| Programme | EJU status | What it wants instead |
|---|---|---|
| Tohoku University, Future Global Leadership | One accepted option among many. May be taken in Japanese or English, and no Japanese language test is required | Indian Class XII from CBSE, CISCE or a state board is explicitly listed, alongside IB, A-levels, SAT, ACT and AP. English via TOEFL iBT 79 or IELTS Academic 6.0 |
| Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, English-basis | Not part of the English-basis requirements at all | A 12-year school curriculum, plus IELTS 6.0, TOEFL iBT 75, Duolingo 110, PTE 60 or equivalent |
| Institute of Science Tokyo, GSEP | Optional, but weighted. Submission is optional and scores are treated as “an important reference” at interview | Documents, then a written exam and interview. TOEFL, TOEIC or IELTS accepted with no minimum score |
| Sophia University, Faculty of Liberal Arts | Not accepted. Sophia takes EJU only for its Faculty of Science and Technology | 12 years of schooling and a SAT or ACT score, a full IB Diploma, or A-levels in three subjects. Plus TOEFL or IELTS. Decided on documents alone, with no exam or interview |
Line those four up and the real picture appears. Tohoku, a national university that ranks well above most of what an Indian student is otherwise considering, will read your CBSE marksheet directly. Sophia will not, and asks for an SAT or ACT that a typical Indian board student has never sat. So “English-taught means no EJU” is true, and “English-taught means less work” is not.
One rule inside the Tohoku guide works against Indian applicants specifically. Tohoku accepts predicted grades for IB, A-levels, the Gaokao and the French Baccalaureate, which lets those students apply during their final year and get a conditional offer. Its guide then names the exception directly, saying predicted scores of other examinations “are not acceptable (e.g. CBSE)”. An Indian applicant therefore has to wait for final Class XII results while an IB classmate is already holding an offer. Plan your application year around that, not around the exam.
Which universities sit on which side of this line is the single most useful thing to establish before you plan anything else, and our guide to Japanese universities for Indian students maps the English-taught and Japanese-taught intakes side by side.
Is the EJU worth sitting even if your programme does not need it?
Sometimes, and the reasons are more concrete than “it strengthens your application”. Three of them are worth 1,350 rupees on their own.
It is attached to a scholarship you apply for on the exam form. High scorers are made reservation holders for the Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship for privately financed international students, worth 48,000 yen a month. You claim it by ticking a box when you register for the EJU, not through a separate application. And the rule that matters to you is buried in the fine print. Candidates who score well at an overseas exam site are selected “with qualification for potential extension of scholarship duration”, while equally good scorers elsewhere get a single year. Sitting the paper in New Delhi can therefore buy you a longer award than sitting the same paper in Tokyo. It stacks with the tuition waivers and foundation awards covered under scholarships to study in Japan.
Its syllabus may define an exam you have to sit anyway. Tohoku’s FGL guide says the written test at its second screening stage draws its scope from “EJU’s Mathematics (Course 2) and Science syllabus”. You can walk into that exam without an EJU score. You cannot walk in without the EJU syllabus.
Almost nobody competing with you takes it in English. At the November 2025 sitting, 24,545 people sat the EJU worldwide and only 1,234 of them used the English version, about one in twenty. The English route exists, it is officially supported, and it is close to empty. That is exactly why so few Japanese-taught departments are built around it, and also why an English EJU score stands out on a file from India.
The honest verdict. If your shortlist is entirely English-taught, skip the EJU and put those weeks into your IELTS or TOEFL score and your Class XII marks. If even one Japanese-taught university is on your list, or if you want a shot at the Honors Scholarship, register for November and take Maths and Science in English. Either way, get your seat confirmed before you worry about the paperwork that follows, which is set out on our Japan student visa and Certificate of Eligibility page.
- The EJU is an undergraduate admission exam run by JASSO, not a language certificate. It has no levels and no pass mark, and the JLPT is the exam that certifies Japanese proficiency.
- It is held in India, in New Delhi only, in June and November. MOSAI on Barakhamba Road administers it, registration is online, and the same organisation also runs the JLPT in Delhi.
- The 2026 fee is 1,300 rupees per JASSO and 1,350 rupees on MOSAI’s payment page. It is flat regardless of how many papers you take, and it did not rise this year while Japan’s fee rose about a fifth to 23,000 yen.
- Everything except the Japanese paper can be written in English, and some routes make the Japanese paper optional entirely. Institute of Science Tokyo publishes one such route needing 350 or more across science and maths.
- Scores are scaled and valid for two years across four sittings, but every subject you submit must come from a single sitting.
- 479 Japanese universities ask for EJU scores and 267 institutions will admit you from India without a trip to Japan, but only 6 of those are graduate schools, so this is not a route to a master’s.
- English-taught degrees mostly skip the EJU. Tohoku University accepts Indian Class XII from CBSE, CISCE or a state board with IELTS 6.0, while Sophia’s liberal arts faculty does not accept the EJU and asks for SAT, ACT, IB or A-levels instead.
- Scoring well at an overseas centre such as New Delhi can qualify you for a longer Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship, worth 48,000 yen a month, than scoring the same in Japan.
Frequently asked questions
Is the EJU exam conducted in India?
Yes. JASSO lists India (New Delhi) among its 17 overseas test cities, and the exam runs there in both June and November. The Mombusho Scholars Association of India administers it at 27 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi, under the supervision of the Embassy of Japan. New Delhi is the only Indian centre, and registration is online.
What is the EJU exam fee in India?
JASSO’s 2026 guidelines print INR 1,300, while MOSAI’s own registration page charges Rs.1350, so budget the higher figure. Unlike Japan, where the fee is 12,000 yen for one subject and 23,000 for two or three, India’s fee is flat no matter how many papers you take.
What is the difference between the EJU and the JLPT?
The EJU is an admission exam for undergraduate entry to Japanese universities, testing academic Japanese plus science, maths or Japan and the World. The JLPT is a language certificate graded N5 to N1 that tests only vocabulary, grammar, reading and listening. The EJU has no levels and no pass mark. The JLPT does.
Can you take the EJU exam in English?
Yes, for three of the four papers. Science, Japan and the World, and Mathematics are all offered in English, and only Japanese as a Foreign Language is Japanese-only. Some routes let you drop the Japanese paper altogether. At the November 2025 sitting, however, only 1,234 of 24,545 examinees worldwide chose the English version.
How long is an EJU score valid?
Two years, which covers the four most recent sittings, so a November 2026 score can be used through to late 2028. You may sit the exam as often as you like and submit your best result, but every subject in a single application must come from the same sitting. Some universities restrict which years they accept.
What is a good EJU score?
It depends entirely on the university. Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific asks for 250 on Japanese, Ritsumeikan University 280, and Doshisha 315, against a November 2025 average of 235.4. Yokohama National wants 680 out of a maximum 850. Compare any published figure with the average rather than judging it on its own.
Do you need the EJU for English-taught programmes in Japan?
Usually not. Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific’s English-basis route does not use it, and Sophia’s Faculty of Liberal Arts does not accept it at all. Tohoku University treats it as one option alongside Indian Class XII, IB and A-levels, and Institute of Science Tokyo’s GSEP makes submission optional but treats scores as an important reference.
Can you use the EJU to apply for a master’s in Japan?
No. JASSO describes the EJU as an exam for study at the undergraduate level, and only 6 of the 267 institutions offering pre-arrival admission through it are graduate schools. A Japanese master’s normally runs through a supervisor, a research plan and a departmental entrance exam rather than a national test.
When is the EJU exam in 2026?
The first sitting was Sunday 21 June 2026, with results on 28 July. The second is Sunday 8 November 2026, with results on 15 December. Applications for the November sitting opened on 6 July 2026 and close at 5:00 pm on 30 July 2026. No corrections to a submitted form are allowed after that date.
Sources
- JASSO, Guidelines for the 2026 EJU (test dates 21 June and 8 November 2026, application windows, subject table and score ranges, English-language option, overseas test cities, India fee INR 1,300, Japan fee JPY 12,000 and 23,000)
- JASSO, What is EJU (purpose, administrator, undergraduate scope, four subjects, twice a year)
- JASSO, EJU Overseas Representatives in Asia (India, New Delhi, Mombusho Scholars Association of India, 27 Barakhamba Road, online application)
- JASSO, EJU score and score equating (scaled scores under item response theory, two-year validity, best-session submission)
- JASSO, scoring FAQ (writing graded as 0, 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 or 50 points; four sessions usable)
- JASSO, EJU FAQ (no qualification, age limit or attempt cap; all submitted subjects must come from one sitting)
- JASSO, number of schools offering pre-arrival admission (267 institutions as of July 2026, including 24 national universities and 6 graduate schools)
- JASSO, acceptance levels and minimum required scores for pre-arrival admission (Doshisha 315, Ritsumeikan 280 and 35, APU 250 and 30, Iwate 260, Yokohama National 680 of 850, Institute of Science Tokyo 350 with Japanese optional; survey run July to October 2025)
- JASSO, 2026 EJU 1st Session applicants (India New Delhi 241 of 30,804 applicants)
- JASSO, Outline of Results, 2025 EJU 2nd Session (New Delhi 296 applicants and 170 examinees; 1,234 of 24,545 examinees used the English version; subject averages including Japanese 235.4, writing 34.3, physics 53.7, chemistry 51.9, Maths Course 2 109.0; and the reprinted 2025 fee table)
- JASSO, revised syllabuses for Science, Japan and the World and Mathematics (applied from the 2026 1st Session; solubility product and enthalpy, ecosystems and human activities, expected value and probability distributions)
- JASSO, Reservation Program for Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship, EJU June 2026 (JPY 48,000 a month; overseas-site scorers selected with qualification for potential extension of duration)
- Study in Japan, official portal, Examinations (479 universities and over 60% of all Japanese universities require EJU scores; Japan and the World combines civics, geography and history; JLPT held in 96 countries and 280 cities)
- MOSAI, EJU November 2026 notice (8 November 2026, New Delhi centre, submission 6 to 30 July 2026, Rs.1350 fee, Class 11 minimum qualification, no corrections after 30 July)
- JLPT, test sections and scoring (language knowledge, reading and listening only; no direct measurement of speaking or writing; machine-scored)
- JLPT, summary of linguistic competence by level (five levels, N1 hardest to N5 easiest)
- JLPT, FAQ (the certificate never expires; overall pass mark plus sectional pass marks)
- JLPT, overseas test site list (eight Indian cities including New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata)
- Tohoku University, Future Global Leadership undergraduate courses (application guide for October 2026 enrolment, listing Indian Class XII from CBSE, CISCE or state boards as accepted; EJU in Japanese or English with no Japanese test required; TOEFL iBT 79 or IELTS 6.0; predicted CBSE scores not accepted; second-stage written test scoped to EJU Mathematics Course 2 and Science)
- Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, application eligibility (English-basis route, 12-year curriculum, IELTS 6.0, TOEFL iBT 75, Duolingo 110, PTE 60)
- Institute of Science Tokyo, GSEP admissions (EJU submission optional but an important reference; TOEFL, TOEIC or IELTS with no minimum score; two-stage screening)
- Sophia University, Faculty of Liberal Arts admission requirements (12 years of schooling plus SAT, ACT, full IB Diploma or three A-levels; TOEFL or IELTS; document screening only)
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