@kanagawa Yeah, I have, and I have a few other Japan-focused extracurriculars too. I’m hoping that a strongly demonstrated interest in Japan (not just anime and manga) will add credibility to the idea that I want to do TASP for the pleasure of knowledge, which is honestly especially true for me for the Japanese Gender in Pop Culture seminar.
@UesugiKenshin wow! did you study with a program or on your own? and where in japan?
that’s amazing!!
if you’re looking for more japan-studies academia type programs, i highly recommend the stanford reischauer scholars program!!! it’s an online class about japanese history and culture (named after ambassador reischauer:) taught by stanford poli sci professors and diplomats!!) from feb-june and i’ll be participating this year. if u have any questions about it feel free to ask!
PSA from your friendly neighborhood TASP mom: Congratulations to everyone who’s already submitted, and just in case there was any confusion whatsoever, I want to make sure everyone knows to submit by 11:59 PM EST specifically! Go get those acceptances! 
Just submitted! Good luck y’all. Thank you @ 5toryt3ll3r for answering so many questions and indirectly helping me apply, now I need to take a break from thinking for a while.
After hours of meticulous editing, I’ve finally submitted my essays! Thanks again to @5toryt3ll3r for all her advice and guidance in the application process. Good luck everyone, and I expect to see plenty of finalists on here come March!
Submitted! Although I’m not that confident in my essays, I’m hoping for the best
Good luck everyone!
Finally submitted… my EC section felt pretty short, but so be it.
Don’t expect I’ll sniff the interview round, but hey. Even writing the essays was a good experience.
Good luck, everyone!
That was crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard on essays before! Good luck to everyone!
I JUST SUBMITTED MY APPLICATION AAAA (what an exhilarating journey.) My procrastination will definitely not work in my favor considering that I barely proofread, and the 3% (or 10%) acceptance rate will definitely bite me in the back come March, but I’m so glad to be done.
@memeqween101 LOL HONESTLY SAME
GL
I feel so weird about this. I’ve wanted to go to TASP since 9th grade and I daydreamed for so long about going, but now it’s like, it just registered to me how competitive this whole thing is. All of yall are probably all qualified and wrote bomb essays, and while I hope that I’ll make it to interviews, I probably won’t, but this was an amazing experience and to whichever lucky fellas in this thread do get interviews, yall deserve it. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
@kanagawa I went there with a program but they basically left me on my own the whole time. I attended high school there and had a host family. It was probably the greatest experience I’ve had so far in life.
Thanks for teaching me about that Reischauer Scholars Program by the way! I think I’m gonna try to apply next year, it sounds really interesting.
Same with the application time, I turned mine in at 11:58. I only discovered the program mid-January because of a problem with my PSAT scores, so they were all rather rushed (though my friends and teacher helped immensely with editing). Fingers crossed till march
lol I turned mine in at 12:08
I expect they won’t care, but who knows.
I missed school and wrote all of the essays today. Still jittery from all that writing ahhhh fingers crossed
@artgivesmelife samee, this is literally my dream summer program (I found about it in soph year) but I procrastinated instead of writing the essays anyway???♀️
@UesugiKenshin sounds amazing!! what program was it, if you don’t mind me asking?
i’m happy to help! definitely apply, the application is much less hefty than tasp, i promise
JSA offers various political science orientated summer programs if anyone is interested in that.
@kanagawa It was YFU, they have the best summer program imo. Theirs is the longest homestay, and it also offers good scholarships
@UesugiKenshin How much did it cost you?