Japan's obsession with testing is growing, according to new information from the Eiken Foundation of Japan. The foundation, which oversees one of Japan's most oft-taken English exams, the Eiken, has reported that the number of primary school students taking the Eiken test in practical English proficiency has reached the highest number ever.
More than 200,000 primary school students sat for the exam in fiscal 2012, up 80 percent from 10 years ago.
The reasons why the foundation released the data by age group for the first time this year is unclear, but perhaps they would like to compete with the English exam currently being promoted by the Abe administration, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). In Japan, not only test-takers compete, but test-makers compete as well.