TOEFL Requirement for Japan Universities: Minimum Score

Typical minimum: 80 iBT where a university states a fixed minimum, though individual universities and programmes in this project's own sample range from 72 to 90, and Science Tokyo's GSEP publishes no fixed minimum at all, verified 7 September 2026.

Computed from this project's own sample of 13 researched Japanese universities: TOEFL iBT 80 is the most common stated floor (University of Tokyo's College of Design, Nagoya's G30 programmes, Kyushu's International Undergraduate Programs, Tohoku's Gateway College and Waseda's SILS all state or are consistently cited at 80), Hokkaido's Modern Japanese Studies Program and University of Tsukuba's BPGI both state 79, Sophia's Faculty of Liberal Arts states 79, Osaka's Human Sciences IUDP states 85, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University states 75, Hiroshima's Integrated Global Studies states 72 on its main selection systems, Kyoto iUP publishes 90 only as a typical successful-applicant reference score (no fixed minimum), and Science Tokyo's GSEP states no fixed minimum at all. studyinjapan.go.jp does not publish one national figure.

Verified universities in Japan and their minimum

Sources, checked 7 September 2026
  1. https://admissions.tohoku.ac.jp/en/admissions/undergraduate/gateway_college/