The education ministry has asked Japanese-language schools to steer students towards tests other than the JLPT, the first time it has made such a request, Kyodo reported on 27 September. The Immigration Services Agency made the same request to the roughly 800 schools that fall outside the ministry's certification system, after applications for the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test outgrew the seats available to sit it.
Kyodo reports the ministry sent its document on 11 September to about 100 state-certified institutions, naming the BJT Business Japanese Proficiency Test and J.TEST, which runs six times a year, as alternatives.
The applicant numbers behind the request
The July 2026 JLPT drew 943,671 applicants worldwide, a record for a July sitting and 4.3 percent above July 2025. The split matters: 567,643 of those applied overseas, up 2.7 percent, while 376,028 applied inside Japan, up 6.9 percent. Demand from people already living here is growing more than twice as fast as demand from abroad.
The rule changes of the past year explain it. Since 16 October 2025, a Business Manager application has required either the applicant or a full-time employee to hold JLPT N2 or a BJT score of 400 or above. The permanent residence criteria put out for public comment in August would add a language test to that route too. Each addition pushes more people towards a test that runs twice a year.
December's sitting closed before the deadline
Applications for the December 2026 test in Japan opened on 24 August and were due to close on 3 September. They did not last. N1 and N2 closed before the deadline; N3 closed, reopened, then closed again in Tokyo and Osaka. The organiser, JEES, said securing test sites has become extremely difficult because of the sharp rise in applicants, and warned that registration may shut mid-period.
If you missed December, the next JLPT sitting in Japan is July 2027. For anyone whose application timeline runs through the spring, that gap is the problem.
If you hold a residence card and need a score for a status application
For the Highly Skilled Professional points system, you do not need the JLPT at all. The agency's own points table awards 15 points for a BJT score of 480 or above, the same as JLPT N1, and 10 points for BJT 400 or above, the same as N2. Anyone short of 70 points and waiting on a December JLPT seat can sit the BJT instead and claim identical points. Our page on language requirements sets out which score each route accepts: Japanese language requirements.
The Business Manager criteria accept the same substitution, and also accept 20 years of continuous residence in Japan, graduation from a Japanese university, or completing compulsory education and high school here. Long-term residents who qualify on one of those grounds need no test score at all. The full criteria are on our page for the Business Manager visa.
If you are on Specified Skilled Worker or heading into Employment for Skill Development
The JLPT is not the main route here and never was. The common language test across all Specified Skilled Worker fields is the Japan Foundation Test for Basic Japanese, which runs on a computer-based schedule rather than two fixed dates a year.
The same test carries the Employment for Skill Development programme, which starts on 1 April 2027. Under the published outline, participants need an A1-equivalent result — JFT-Basic or JLPT N5 — or equivalent training before starting work, A2.1 at the one-year mark, and A2.2 to complete the programme. None of that is in force yet, but anyone planning around it should assume JFT-Basic rather than a JLPT seat.
If you are applying for a student visa
Entry to a Japanese university on a student visa turns on JLPT N2 as the headline benchmark, though the agency accepts several other qualifications at the same standard. Applicants abroad face less pressure, since the site shortage is a domestic one. The December closure landed on people already here on a language-school place who were counting on a December result for a spring university application.
What to check this week
Check what your route accepts before booking anything. The points table for Highly Skilled Professional and the Business Manager criteria both sit on the immigration agency's site, and both name the BJT alongside the JLPT. Schools acting on the 11 September request will start pointing students at alternatives anyway. The sooner you know which test your application will take, the less the gap to July 2027 costs you.
Sources: Japan Today / Kyodo, JLPT July 2026 results summary (PDF), JEES JLPT applications, ISA: Business Manager criteria revision, ISA: Japanese-language ability points table (PDF), ISA: Specified Skilled Worker tests, ISA: Employment for Skill Development outline (PDF)