Of course, knowing Japanese is an advantage, and it is much more convenient to find materials for papers. Fudan and Nankai are both major bases for Japanese history research in China, with Japanese history research centers and Japanese research institutes in Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences. The main directions are Japanese modernization, postwar Japanese economy, social thought history, political history, diplomacy and so on. See the tutor or project. It's hard to say the difficulty of applying for the exam. Probably not easy. There are many opportunities to go abroad, and there are many academic exchange projects in a year or so. Most of the tuition fees are not needed, or some of them are paid by themselves. The specific treatment shall be agreed by both schools. In short, it is the principle of equal treatment.

At that time, I studied the modernization of Japan, and my thesis was diplomacy, US-Japan relations, and I also went to Japan for a period of time.