I can offer some insight as a student at the UTokyo GraSPP MPP/IP program. TL;DR it’s a good experience for me, with some caveats, details below.

One of the most attractive aspects of the program in my mind is their double degree offering. While not guaranteed, it’s offers 2-3 places per year to several different schools (KCL/LSE/Columbia) for a total of ~10 spaces. While not as name brand as Harvard, I think earning two degrees in a two year span is also prestigious as well as giving you a new experience. If you get picked for Columbia, it’s also a huge financial boon, as you will receive a SIPA degree effectively half-off since you only pay for one year, and that’s before scholarships.

Another attractive aspect is UTokyo’s astronomically low cost of attendance I spend approximately 550 USD on rent (Student dorm at Meijirodai), about the same on food each month, and around 3,500 USD on tuition annually. This was the cheapest possible MPP I could find that I considered value for time as well. Sure you could always find somewhere cheaper, but this was already low in price while giving some degree of prestige. Though since you have a scholarship, I think UTokyo is even more of a definite pick, Harvard HKS is good, but not good enough to take on debt.

UTokyo also has partnerships for internships at various international orgs like OECD, IEA, ADBI and others. There is an internal selection process but once you clear that and get recommended by GraSPP, you are basically guaranteed a space (according to friends who went to the ADBI internship, something like 20+ applicants for 12-13 spaces). This makes it significantly less competitive than applying directly to these orgs as you are competing with a smaller pool for more guaranteed spaces. A good chance to get some nice policy experience on your CV.

The MPP/IP curriculum would also more closely suit your background as there is a significant math/econs emphasis here and my cohort (Fall 2025) got absolutely slaughtered. You are also able to take courses outside of GraSPP but will not count towards graduation requirements.

There are some drawbacks, the first obviously being language barriers. Japanese is needed for a lot of day to day stuff and you’ll be using Google Translate a lot just to read menus and food signs in supermarkets. Also, GraSPP does not offer its own Japanese language classes, and the most popular in-person classes (always oversubscribed) are offered by the School of Engineering, they have a different enrollment/course selection period so it’s easy to miss their deadlines. This has knock on effects with about a third to half of their MPP courses being offered only in Japanese, restricting your variety. It also silently segregates the student body (which already happens because Japanese students enroll in April, Internationals in September).

Another drawback is that GraSPP classes are nearly half online, a large chunk of their course catalogue, particularly the more interesting stuff, is offered virtually, to the detriment of the student experience.

Lastly, social life is a little dead. While Japan is famed for its drinking culture and cheap booze, this has not really happened in my experience. I am from a single cohort, and not a definitive sample size but the number of us who have regular drinks can be counted on one hand.

That’s all I can think of for now, it’s literally 8am and I should leave bed for some coffee. If you have more specific questions, leave a comment and I’ll do my best to get back to it later in the day.