Dear Readers,

This issue of the newsletter highlights the following two special articles.

In Special Article 1, we report on the business plan, income, and expenditure budget for FY2022 that was approved by JPNIC members in March 2022, as well as the business report and income and expenditure settlement for FY2021 approved in June 2022. We also introduce the members of the newly formed Board of Trustees, and Auditors who will be responsible for the operation of JPNIC for the next two years.

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF), organized by the United Nations, is a forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue on Internet governance issues. The IGF has been held once a year since 2006 in various countries around the world, and IGF2023 is to be held in Japan next year. In Special Feature 2, we report on efforts to stimulate Internet governance-related activities in Japan in preparation for IGF2023.

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 the GUI (Graphical User Interface). Before the advent of GUIs, CUIs (Character User Interfaces) were the mainstream. In such systems, commands were typed in a character-based manner and the results were displayed in text as well. Let's take a look at how GUIs have evolved over the years.

In “Pick Out!”, we introduce featured articles from the JPNIC blog. This time, we feature an article summarizing the actions of various organizations related to Internet infrastructure aimed at addressing issues associated with the sudden Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. For the full text, visit https://blog.nic.ad.jp/2022/7359/ !!

“Introducing JPNIC Members” focuses on a particular JPNIC member engaged in interesting activities. This time, we visited TAM Co., Ltd., headquartered in Kamiichi Town in Toyama pref. They are one of the oldest companies in the Internet industry, and this year marks their 27th year in business. They have a unique corporate history. They entered the Internet industry as an ISP, then began providing Internet services for CATV, and recently entered the CATV business by taking over the business of a CATV station. They also boast deep expertise not only in software, but also in hardware design and production. Their technologies shine through in professional-grade audio equipment products such as speakers. For us, this was the first face-to-face interview in the two years and three months since the first wave of COVID-19. We were deeply moved to hear their thoughts on the industry and the hometown of Mr. Araki, the CEO of TAM Co., Ltd.

“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. Yuri Takamatsu of Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd. (JPRS). There she is engaged in JP domain name registry operations, and also works in domain name-related services as a board member of the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Association (APTLD), a federation of ccTLD registries in the Asia Pacific region. She talks about her career, her reasons for going into the Internet industry, her involvement in the Internet after graduating college, and her thoughts on her duties.

In our “10 Minute Internet Course”, we explore the keyword "quantum computers". Associate Professor Naoto Yanai, of the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at Osaka University, explains quantum computers in an article entitled "Quantum Computers Today from the Perspective of Cryptography." There are a lot of rumors flying around, such as "Quantum computers make the current encrypted communication technology useless," and "Quantum computers will drive the development of AI forward." What is the current state of quantum computers and what will change with the emergence of quantum computers? The second half will follow in our next issue (No. 82).

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!!