© 2018 Japanese Psychological Association. Published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. We sought to verify the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students (UWES-S-J). We examined 824 university students. We calculated the goodness of fit for a single-factor model and the three-factor model. The fit to the data was better for the three-factor than for the single-factor model, but all factors were highly positively correlated. Additionally, the UWES-S-J had good internal consistency and test–retest reliability. For the content validity, there were significant positive correlations between the UWES-S-J score and social support, a resilience scale, and subjective happiness. The UWES-S-J has good reliability and validity and may therefore be used to assess study engagement among Japanese students.