Business Japanese Test

BJT (Business Japanese Test) examinees using the test to help improve their proficiency are increasing in number.

Number of applicants

Trends in applicant number
Total of applicants for the tests in 2009: 6,592

Characteristics of examinees

The BJT is taken by many businesspeople working on the front-line of business and students expecting to get jobs.

Many of those who take the test are employees who actually use Japanese in the workplace, and students with their sights set on working at Japanese companies. In terms of occupation,many are company staff involved in sales and marketing, general affairs, personnel and finance, as well as management and planning.

J2 and J3 level examinees account for the majority.

The test results of the examinees of the 8th through 19th tests were processed statistically,resulting in a bell-curve distribution peaking at 430 to 439 points with J1 and J1+ representing relatively strong communicative proficiency.

Reasons for taking the test

The most common reason to take BJT is “To improve my qualifications for employment” (48%), followed by “To measure my ability” (39%). The results show that for many applicants BJT functions as an objective proof of their Japanese proficiency, for both personal and professional purposes.