Center examinations begin.
550,000 people take the exam nationwide
January 16, 2010, Tokyo, Japan - Applicants double-check and confirm classrooms and buildings for unified college entrance examinations upon their More than half of 550,0000 applicants braved the freezing temperatures to take the tests across Japan. The number of applicants increased 9,387 from last year to 553,368, according to the National Center for University Entrance Examinations. High school students due to graduate in March account for 79.5 percent of the total applicants. The government began organizing unified exams for national and municipal government-run colleges in the 1979 academic year and upgraded them in the 1990 (Photo by Natsuki Sakai/AFLO) [3615] -mis-