My interview experience (Mongolian, KOSEN applicant)
Hello! I thought that i should share my interview experience for my fellow mongolian applicants. The interview was on july 1st for kosen, and my interview was at 10am, but they told me to arrive 5 mins early. That day, there was a lot of traffic jam, and i arrived at the embassy guard post at around 9:50. There were 2 japanese men in blue stripe buttoned shirt and red ties, checked my documents, and let me through a metal detector even though i had phone (which it beeped), told me it was fine and proceed. The waiting lobby was nice, with 4 one seater sofas, and a nice wooden table with flowers. There were 2 glass rooms on the left, one with a previous candidate still giving their interview, and one with 2 japanese women doing their office job, talking and laughing along. After waiting for few mins, the previous candidate was escorted to exit and they took 1 or 2 mins to continue write something on paper and organize their documents. There were only me and one male candidate in the waiting room, and the female japanese interviewer called me in. I entered the interview room and bowed, then sat at the chair. It was a small office style room, with one basic working table, with two japanese interviewers, one male with stern face, in his 40s, and one female with small young kind face. They almost scrambled through my documents, and the lady asked "are you nervous?" In cheerful tone. I told her "yeah, a little bit". The first question was in english, asked by the man, "why did you choose this major (my first cjoice was computer network)". I was very nervous at the beginning, and stuttered, and barely produced a simple english answer. And then he asked me whether i can introduce myself in japanese. I introduced myself by saying my name, age, that i want to study in japanese kosen, and my japanese was still not good and i want to study japanese. The man corrected my grammar a bit and nodded. And then the lady asked me how i learned japanese in mongolian. I told her that i learned it by hobby, by internet and watching tv lessons. Then the lady asked "why kosen?" In mongolian. I answered "in my thought, network engineering, or server admin is a job that depends mainly on prictical experience. Even though university is good, i think kosen is better because of their hands-on experience along with factual knowledge". They all noted something in fast japanese on paper. And then lady asked "whats your hobby?". I said my hobby was cooking and origami. She told me "wow! Origami? How did you learn it?", i told "i learned it by watching a youtube tutorial of a channel named jo nakashima", she told "whats your latest creations in origami?, i told "my latest creations are flowers, and then also i crafted an 8 legged spider", which made the lady even more impressed. And then the lady asked "for kosen, you would be needing to probably be located at a countryside or small city, so its not like ulaanbaatar. How are you planning to get used to the new atmosphere?", i answered "its alright, i plan on getting used to it by making friends, and keeping in touch with my family constantly by video calling them". Ans then she asked "what are your highschool achievements?" I answered "i used to participate in singapore and asian math olympiad every highschool year, and i earned 2 bronze medals in 9th, and 11th grade, and homorable mentions in 10th, 12th grades. And also i got honorable mention in an essay competition" and she nodded along, reviewing my reccomendation letter. She said "wow, you are good at math, huh..." (a very japanese dialogue but translated to mongolian), and then she asked "have you applied to any other scholarships", which i said no. Oh also she asked "is your family fine with you going to japan?", i answered "yes, my family fully supports me". The interview was like 8 or 10 mins, and the lady told me the interview was over and i was free to go. I bowed at the exit and went away.
So, except the first question, the interview was almost all in mongolian, which surprises me. Also, i wonder if it went smoothly or not, considering i stuttered and stuck on the first question... it was kind of like a fun dynamic though, i got nervous by looking at the stern man's face and then eased myself up looking at the kind lady's face lol. Thats my interview experience, i hope i pass the interview