Vulcanus in Japan: Application, Internship, Salary, and Life in Japan

Vulcanus in Japan is a program for European university students in engineering and science. It gives students the chance to learn Japanese, work, and live in Japan.

It is organized by the EU-Japan Centre, created by the European Union and the Japanese government. It promotes industrial cooperation between the EU and Japan.

The program is divided into two parts. First, a Japanese language course. Then, an internship at a Japanese company.

I will also share practical tips for future applicants.

This article is based on my experience during Vulcanus in Japan 2023-24. The contents of the program have remained mostly the same. That said, the length has been reduced from 12 months to 8 months since then.

Who can apply?

To apply to Vulcanus in Japan, you have to meet these requirements: 

• Be a citizen of the EU or a country associated with the Single Market Program.

• Be a student at a university based in one of the countries above.

• Be a student of engineering or a field related to science, technology or mathematics

• Be enrolled between the last year of Bachelor’s and the last year of PhD.

• Stay enrolled at your university at least until late June of the departure year.

• Be available for the full program.

• Be able to communicate in English.

Check the program’s website for more information.

In my case, this meant I had to wait until my fourth year of my bachelor’s degree to apply. Then, I could attend the program right after graduating. This way, I could avoid stopping my studies for a year and then having to return to my country afterwards to complete my degree.

Most host companies seek master’s degree students or higher. Still, I recommend applying as soon as you can. It is a highly competitive program. Some students are accepted only after applying for two or more consecutive years.

How to apply to Vulcanus

There are two steps. We can think of them as an initial screening and a company matchmaking. First, you need to pass the filter by the EU-Japan Centre, and then you have to be selected by a company.

The first selection phase

For the initial screening, the process begins with filling out a Word form and a web form. Don’t sleep on this, since you will be asked to gather some official documents from your university.

In this round, you will be assessed based on your academic record and how well you fit the program. For this, the motivation letter seems most effective.

I recommend extensively researching the participating companies. In my case, I was aiming for one specific company, so I based half of my motivation letter on my fit with the company.

You will also need a recommendation letter from one of your professors. I was told that Japan values the status of the person providing the recommendation. In my case, I got it from the dean of my faculty.

You may be wondering if you need to be a top student. While yes, grades are taken into consideration, I am proof that you don’t need a perfect GPA to get selected.

I cannot vouch for you if you have poor grades, but I don’t think you’ll have issues if you are average in this regard.

The second and final matchmaking

If you pass the first phase, you become part of a much smaller pool of European students. Companies will choose from this remaining pool of applicants.

You will have to submit more documents. These include a new motivation letter for your preferred company and a CV.

The company may also interview you. In practice, this does not happen often. The reason is that this matchmaking is “first-come, first-served”. This means that the first company choosing a student gets them. Companies also secure a spot in the program by selecting a student. If they wait too long, they may miss the chance to participate.

Getting selected

If you made it here, congratulations. You will go to Japan. You will have a great experience. But don’t celebrate yet.

I had around four months between getting selected and the day I had to be in Tokyo. This meant I had to rush to the Japanese embassy. I needed to get a Certificate of Eligibility and a subsequent visa approved.

You will be asked to wait before buying plane tickets, in case you don’t manage to secure the visa in time. I ended up buying a very expensive ticket, since I only managed to get my visa two weeks before departure. Consider booking earlier and paying for a flexible ticket. It may be cheaper that way.

Road to Japan

After getting accepted and while you are getting the visa ready, you still need to do some things. This involves language and travel. But not to Japan yet.

One of them is doing an online interview with the language school. They will assess your Japanese level, if you already know some. You will then receive details on which class level you will attend and other information.

If you are a complete beginner, you will be asked to learn hiragana and katakana. Don’t panic, this is actually very easy. You will definitely manage to do so during these months.

In my case, I was placed at an intermediate level, since I had passed the JLPT N4 a couple of years earlier.

The other thing you will do before going to Japan is attend a meeting in Brussels. This will be the first contact with the EU-Japan Centre. You will get general guidance on the program and life in Japan. But most importantly, you will meet the other participants here.

Living in Japan

The program will start almost as soon as you land in Tokyo. Before we dive deep into the different periods, I will lay out some information regarding the living arrangements in Japan.

Right after you land in Japan, you will stay with the rest of the participants at the same designated hotel. You can rest after the long plane trip and prepare for the next day.

Your second day in Japan may be one of the most hectic of the year. A representative from your host company will meet you at the hotel. They will help you with initial procedures.

This includes:

• Registering at the City Hall

• Signing up for national health insurance

• Getting a Japanese mobile number

• Opening a Japanese bank account

Finally, they will show you where you will live for the next few months, or for the duration of the program. This difference is important. If your host company is not in Tokyo, you will have to change apartments after the language course ends.

In my year, most of us lived in Tokyo, or close to it. Bear in mind, by Japanese standards, a 1.5-hour-long commute is normal. If your office is outside Tokyo but close enough, you won’t change apartments. You will have to do a long commute every day to the language school.

Housing, scholarship, and other costs

This may be what you are most worried about. It can also change from year to year. Check the official website for the most up-to-date information.

Companies are required to provide housing assistance. This means they will find and arrange an apartment for you before your arrival.

Most participants live rent-free during the program. In my case, I only had to pay utility fees. But you may also get this waived by the company.

If you are unlucky, you will get an unfurnished apartment, so get ready to spend some money upfront. In some cases, the company does not cover rent, and you will have to pay it yourself.

You will be awarded a scholarship for the duration of the program. In my case, it was 1.9 million yen, around 12,000 euros at the time. It will be paid on a very irregular schedule.

This is because the funding comes from different public programs from the European Union and the Japanese government. Each follows a different budget and payment cycle.

Some months the amount will be higher than others, and some months there won’t be a payment. Also, it will take some time until you receive the first grant. You need to bring your own money for the first month.

It’s also worth noting that the technical internship won’t have an additional salary on top of the scholarship. In fact, for the whole duration of the program, you will use the same visa and residence status.

Now, to address the elephant in the room. Is this money enough to live on? In theory, yes. But expect to do some budgeting.

For me personally, it was more than enough for living. Eating out in Japan is cheap, and public transportation is affordable. I spent, on average, around two-thirds of the prorated monthly grant, including some leisure activities.

Traveling is a critical point. There are ways to travel cheaply in Japan, but it can also become very expensive quickly. I did some cheap trips without going over the one-third I saved per month.

That was until last month, when I traveled for half of it, using the PTO from my internship. My girlfriend was visiting, so I spent more money than usual. I ended up having to cover some costs with my own savings from before Vulcanus, but it was definitely worth it.

As a rule of thumb, you should manage to save some money before you go to Japan. Even more if you plan on traveling and making the most of the experience. The grant money is only supposed to cover living expenses.

Now, let’s move on to the two periods of the program.

Language training at Naganuma School

Every participant has to take Japanese lessons at Naganuma School. It is one of the oldest Japanese language schools in Tokyo, teaching international students since 1948.

You will have daily lessons here for four months. The school offers regular classes for international students. Vulcanus participants study in special groups for the program.

If you are a beginner, you will learn a lot of vocabulary and do a lot of speaking practice. This will help you go from nothing to being able to survive in Japan in just a few months. But it can be hard to keep up with the pace.

In my year, there were only three groups. Two for beginners and one for intermediate students. I was in the intermediate group with two other participants. We focused more on communication and less on vocabulary.

The lessons are tough, and you will spend 6 hours a day at school. That said, this is also when most of the social life happens among participants. You will all be together in Shibuya, so it’s easy to go to 居酒屋 (izakaya, Japanese pub) or カラオケ (karaoke) after class.

I recommend studying diligently. Life in Japan is so much better if you don’t depend on the other person knowing English. In fact, I advise you to start studying Japanese right now if you are thinking about applying.

Knowing Japanese helps in daily life. You can book hotels and restaurants by phone. You can also talk to locals on your trips. Any knowledge of the language helps.

During this period, you will also go on field trips and attend different seminars about Japan. I encourage you to learn as much as you can from them. Focus on the ones about Japanese life and culture.

Internship at a Japanese company 

After the language course ends, you will start the second phase of the program. This is an internship at your Japanese host company.

Some of your peers will leave Tokyo. You will stop seeing each other every day in Shibuya. From this point on, your experience may vary the most from others’. It will depend completely on your host company.

In my case, I worked for a small Japanese tech company with mostly Japanese engineers. The company operated fully remotely. I was in a team that used Agile and Scrum.

At first, I was assigned training materials for the tech stack I would be using. Afterwards, I started working on some small projects. I also had to write about them on the company’s technical blog. Finally, I added a few small new features to the company's product.

Daily team meetings and communication with my manager were in English. The back office team also used English to help me. I didn’t need Japanese as an intern, but the company itself used Japanese.

I am grateful for the support, but I also have some regrets about this. I could have used a lot more Japanese if the company hadn’t made things so easy for me.

There was a small office in Tokyo, but my team and I didn’t go. I really enjoyed working fully remote. I saved time and money on commuting. But I think I could have had a deeper cultural experience if I had worked on-site.

That said, I had many opportunities to meet my teammates. We gathered in Tokyo about every two months. There, I had the chance to listen to technical talks in Japanese. I also went to a couple of nomikai or 飲み会 (after-work social gathering).

I was able to speak directly with the CEO and CFO in a relaxed, informal setting many times. I made many good memories at the company. At my farewell lunch, I surprised the CFO and others with my taste in Japanese music. Apparently, if you like 椎名林檎 (Ringo Sheena), people expect you to be a Japanese person in your 40s — or at least your late 30s.

Another great memory I have is the online “social lunch” meetings. Employees would eat lunch together over Zoom while someone gave a short talk. 

I was asked to talk about Madrid and my hometown. At first, I was assured I could do it in English so the other employees could practice the language. However, 30 minutes before the meeting, they asked me if I wanted to try to do it in Japanese. A bilingual teammate would help if I needed it.

This was when I realized how much the language training at Naganuma paid off. I managed to talk for the whole Zoom call in Japanese, even without perfect vocabulary or grammar. I think everyone enjoyed it, or at least understood me. Many people participated and asked questions.

And that is one of the best tips I can give you about the internship. Try to use the knowledge you gain in Naganuma. Even if the actual work is in English.

The other tip I want to share, even more important, is to learn to “read the air” (空気を読む). It means paying attention to social cues and adapting to them. This is essential in Japanese culture.

The first time I had to introduce myself to the company, I rehearsed keigo and tried to make my Japanese sound better than it was. Then, my mentor gave me some advice. I quickly learned that I was expected to drop keigo completely.

After that, I spent the next few hours at that company event trying to read the air. I noticed that the work culture was very relaxed. Also, employees were close to each other.

Your experience may be the opposite of mine. You don’t want to disrespect the company that is hosting and supporting your year in Japan. So learn to read the air.

After Vulcanus

After finishing the internship, you have several options, depending on your goals and situation.

Why I left and how it helped

In my case, I chose to return to Spain. You may be wondering why I did that.

First of all, my partner and I had been in a long-distance relationship for one year. She visited, but it was still difficult. We had both made compromises so that I could make the most of this opportunity.

Second, I secured a great job opportunity in Big Tech while I was in Japan. The role was for the Madrid office.

I loved living in Japan, and I had a great professional experience. But these two situations made me decide to go back to Spain.

Vulcanus is a highly selective international program. It shows you have been selected among thousands of European students. It also proves you can adapt to different cultural and professional environments. So it looks good on a CV.

Host companies are global and well-known. The skills you gain during the internship will be useful in your next job, regardless of which country it’s in.

Career in Japan after the Vulcanus internship

If you want to stay, Vulcanus in Japan offers multiple options that will help you achieve your goal.

The most straightforward option is to continue at your host company. If you enjoyed it, you may be able to stay. Keep in mind that this decision is not always made by your manager. It may not depend only on your performance.

Many Japanese companies find it hard to sponsor international talent. This is often because they don’t have any guarantees that candidates will adapt to a Japanese workplace.

Being a Vulcanus alumnus proves you can succeed in that environment. This makes it easier to find another job in Japan. Bear in mind that you will still need a visa sponsorship.

Some internships offered are research-based. In those cases, another option is to pursue master’s or PhD studies in Japan. This can improve your chances of getting a job. You can get academic referrals and use university job networks.

Final thoughts: Is Vulcanus worth it?

If you are unsure about life in Japan, this program gives you a real chance to experience it. You will have support from the EU-Japan Centre and your host company. Also, you will have a group of peers navigating the same issues by your side.

If you are considering a career in Japan, Vulcanus gives you a first-hand taste of it. You can then decide based on the experience, instead of assumptions.

This was probably the best experience of my life, both for my career and my personal development. It gave me unforgettable experiences and helped me grow in many ways I did not expect.

Returning to Spain was the right decision for me, and I don't regret it at all. That said, I still miss Japan and hope to return sometime soon.