Despite having studied Japanese since 1987, Olaf Sponheim became increasingly frustrated with his failure to master the art of writing kanji.

Sponheim, a German who has resided in Tokyo for 10 years, had little difficulty understanding most Japanese conversations. Yet this was not enough.

"After a few years in Japan, you want to talk about current subjects. You do not want to talk like a child," he said.

"The kanji-based world is a big help" in letting those who live in Japan express their ideas briefly and maturely, he added.

About four years ago, Sponheim learned about the Kanji Proficiency Examination -- a test authorized by the education ministry that measures one's ability to read and write kanji.

His first goal was to be able to write 1,000 kanji without using a dictionary; he passed Level 4 of the 10-level exam in October 2002. He passed Level 3, for which he needed to master 1,600 kanji, the following year.

"I was very relieved," Sponheim said. "I could read kanji but was not sure if my form of writing was really OK. It was a good approach to get reassurance."

The number of people taking the kanji exam has doubled in the past five years, with more than 2 million people -- ranging in age from 4 to 94 -- taking last year's test.

The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, which administers the test, said 70 percent to 80 percent of the examinees are young Japanese who can use the qualification to their advantage when applying to a high school or university.

The foundation said, however, that the past five to six years have not only seen an overall increase in the number of test-takers but also the emergence of application forms from non-Japanese.

"The (main) purpose of the test is to establish among Japanese an awareness of and respect for kanji, which was the center of the process through which Japanese culture developed," a foundation spokeswoman said.

But she added that in recent years, the foundation has received many inquiries about the test from foreigners who speak Japanese well, though the number of foreigners taking the exam still remains tiny.

The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation said it does not know exactly how many non-Japanese have actually taken the kanji exam because it has never compiled statistics in terms of nationality.

The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test, which is not authorized by the government, is another popular exam.

The number of applicants for this test has also risen steadily, with some 320,000 people from 39 countries, including Japan, having applied last year.

This test, administered by the Tokyo-based Association of International Education, Japan, and the Japan Foundation, targets non-Japanese who study Japanese as a second language, and evaluates their listening, writing and reading ability through multiple-choice questions.

However, some non-Japanese, especially those who took the kanji exam, said they found the language test less challenging and appealing.

"You can pass the (Japanese-Language Proficiency) test if you're lucky" because of its multiple-choice format, Sponheim claimed.

He achieved Level 1, the highest rung on the test ladder, in 1995.

Rashmi Dawalbhakta, 28, from India, agrees with this view. She has been studying Japanese for 10 years.

"It's easy to remember kanji (when reading), but the writing part is very difficult," she said.

Therefore, although she passed Level 2 in the language-proficiency test, she decided to take the Kanji Proficiency Examination and passed Level 7 in October on her second try.

"Success is not the absence of failure," she said. "It does not matter how many battles you lose. What ultimately matters is winning the war."

Foreigners winning the battle for kanji mastery are also inspiring many Japanese, who are seeing their kanji literacy decline as a result of the widespread use of word processors.

A 38-year-old Japanese woman who works at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Tokyo said she was "shocked" when two of her Dutch colleagues passed the pre-Level 1 Kanji Proficiency exam.

As a Japanese who has lived in Tokyo all her life, she thought she needed to challenge the two Dutchmen and studied for Level 2, which she passed with a Japanese coworker three years ago.

She added that she is planning to take the pre-Level 1 test in the near future, but said she would not attempt Level 1 until after she retires because it is too difficult.

"You are required to write the names of cities like Berlin and San Francisco in kanji," she explained.

"When pressed for time in our daily lives, we can easily forget to write kanji properly, without paying much heed to hooks (in the characters) and stroke order. When I find people writing beautiful Japanese contrary to their (non-Japanese) appearance, I admire them," she said.

"You know, it's said that penmanship reveals the writer's character."