Dear Readers,

In recent years, e-sports have been gaining momentum and attention in the Internet industry. We interviewed three JPNIC members who are involved in e-sports, Community Network Center Inc. (CNCi), QTnet, Inc., and Japan Network Enabler Corporation (JPNE), to get an overview of their e-sports business, their motivations for getting involved, and the appeal and promise of e-sports. Special Article 1 provides an overview of these interviews, which should be of interest to JPNIC members who are thinking of entering the e-sports market.

Finally, "Internet Week 2021" is about to start, and is the focus of Special Article 2. This year's theme is "The Shape of Tomorrow". No one knows yet what the final shape of tomorrow will be, but we chose this theme to highlight our spirit of actively working toward a new era that will surely arrive in the near future. We hope that Internet Week 2021 will provide hints about the "shape of tomorrow" and help you toward creating the future. Internet Week marks its 25th anniversary this year, and in commemoration of this anniversary, we have prepared three events: "Internet Week Basic on Demand," which provides content on the basics of Internet technologies, the "Internet Week Digital Archive," a searchable database of past Internet Week presentations, and the "Quarter-Century Anniversary Party," which will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the event. We hope you'll enjoy these anniversary events!

In "Prologue to the Internet: its Technologies and Services", the JP29-type-robot "Nic-kun" and Dr. Netson of the Internet research institute explain the development of encryption technology to safely exchange information that cannot be revealed to third parties. Cryptography may sound difficult to understand, but in fact, most of us use cryptography without even being aware of it when we use shopping or financial sites on the Internet. Let's take a look at how cryptography has evolved over the years.

In "Pick Out!", we introduce featured articles from the JPNIC blog. This time, we feature an article about the event "Gather&Talk Internet Hot Topics 2021" that was held by the DotAsia Organisation (the registry for the .asia gTLD) and NetMission.Asia (a volunteer group for young people supported by DotAsia). As awareness-raising activities for young people become increasingly important, this project provides us with effective insights into their promotion. For the full text, visit https://blog.nic.ad.jp/2021/6682/ !!

"Introducing JPNIC Members" focuses on a particular JPNIC member engaged in interesting activities. This time, we visited LINK, Inc., headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. They are a well-established hosting company with nationwide services who have a somewhat surprising background, having initially been involved in the advertising industry before entering the hosting business in 1996. Today, they are involved in a wide range of other businesses in addition to their hosting business, including telephony, security platforms, and even agricultural businesses. Their strength lies not only in their technical capabilities but also in their support capabilities. They provide services from a customer point of view, and thereby come to the aid of customers in need with regard to both situation and mindset. In this interview, we got to hear a variety of impressive stories, including their philosophy on business and human resources, and their thoughts on consumer behavior.

"The Internet Loves You" is a corner in which we introduce a person who is active in the Internet industry. This time, we introduce Ms. Mariko Kobayashi, a researcher in the R&D and social implementation department at Mercari, Inc. She is actively involved in community activities not only in Japan but overseas, as a board member of the WIDE Project, an officer of Internet Society Japan Chapter (ISOC-JP), and a member of Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF). She talks about her career, her reasons for going into the Internet industry, and her thoughts on community activities. We were surprised to find that she came into contact with the Internet much later than we expected, yet is now deeply involved in it.

In our "10 Minute Internet Course" we explore the keyword "Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (DRP)". DRP is a mechanism for canceling or transferring a domain name registration based on a petition from the rights holder in the case of registration or use of a domain name in bad faith (e.g., preempting a domain name and attempting to resell it to a trademark holder at a high price). Although there have been no major changes to the concept or framework since its establishment, the procedural methods have changed over time, so this section will explain the current situation.

In addition, you'll also find "Internet Topics", "JPNIC Activity Reports", "Statistics" etc., for the past several months. If you have any comments or feedback, please feel free to contact us at jpnic-news@nic.ad.jp. Your comments are greatly appreciated!!