Japan's two-day unified university entrance exams started Saturday at 679 sites across the country, drawing around 465,000 takers in one subject, as organizers implemented stricter rules to prevent cheating after a photographed image of a question was leaked during last year's event.

Organizers have also implemented coronavirus measures, such as requesting examinees planning to take makeup exams to check if they have body temperatures of 38 C or more, as the country grapples with an eighth wave of infections, according to the National Center for University Entrance Examinations.

Security has also been strengthened at universities, where the exams are held, with police assisting to ensure the safety of examinees after two students who attended the examinations last year were stabbed in front of the University of Tokyo.

Students take the unified university entrance exam in Tokyo on Jan. 14, 2023. (Kyodo)

The number of applicants decreased by 17,786 from last year to 512,581, the affiliate of the education ministry said. The foreign languages test, which typically draws the largest number of takers, was sat by 465,043, or 90.7 percent of them, on Saturday.

A record 870 universities, colleges and junior colleges are using the results in their screening processes, according to the center.

On a university campus in Yamaguchi Prefecture in western Japan, smoke was detected at a laboratory, triggering a fire alarm and delaying the start of the Japanese language test by 30 minutes. No injuries were reported among 548 exam takers at the venue.

As part of the new cheating prevention policy, the organizers warned test-takers that wearing earphones during the exam will be considered to be cheating and that a police report may be filed if evidence of cheating is found.

Other revisions also include proctors asking test-takers before the exam to put their mobile phones on their desks, turn them off and then put them in their bags.

Before the examination, the organizers sent a list of things examinees should be cautious about, along with admission tickets.

Last year, a female university student from Osaka Prefecture, aged 19 at the time, was referred to prosecutors for allegedly leaking a unified university entrance exam question. She was later sent to the Osaka Family Court which placed her under two-year probation.

She sent a photographed image of a world history question via Skype on her smartphone hidden in the sleeve of her jacket to at least four University of Tokyo students who had asked for test answers.

Applicants took exams in all or some of the following subjects -- geography, history, civics, Japanese language and foreign languages -- on Saturday, and will be tested on science and mathematics on Sunday.


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