Dear Readers,

In Special Article 1, we provide an overview of Internet Week 2022, which was held from November 21 to 30, 2022. Its theme was "The Internet Compass-Steering a Course for the Future!". We chose this theme to express our hope that Internet Week could be a compass for those involved in the Internet. Thanks to your tremendous support, Internet Week celebrated its 25th-anniversary last year in 2021, and embarked on a new quarter century in 2022. In this milestone year, we once again ponder the role of Internet Week, as well as share our thoughts and provide an overview of the sessions.

In addition, one of the new challenges for 2022 was holding the event in an on-site and online hybrid format. For the previous two years, the conference was held online due to the measures against COVID-19. However, this time we offered on-site sessions in addition to online sessions during the latter three days of the conference. Hybrid sessions, were particularly important for programs where lively exchanges of opinions between speakers and participants were to be essential. The article also introduces the activities of the network team, which worked so hard behind the scenes to support all of us before and during the event.

Many international conferences, including Internet-related conferences, are scheduled to be held in Japan in 2023: IETF116 will be held in Yokohama in late March for the first time in seven years, and the first IGF conference (IGF2023) will be held in Kyoto in early October 2023. Special Article 2 covers IETF116 and Special Article 3 covers 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 file sharing. In the previous issue (NL82), they explained cloud storage services and their ability to provide data synchronization functions. This time, the duo takes a look at how offline file sharing has evolved over the years.

In “Pick Out!”, we introduce featured articles from the JPNIC blog. This time, we feature an article informing you about JPNIC's efforts on the "Validation of JPNIC WHOIS Accuracy Improvement", which was discussed and recommended for implementation at the 36th JPNIC Open Policy Meeting (JPOPM36) held in June 2019. For the full text, visit https://blog.nic.ad.jp/2022/8415/.

“Introducing JPNIC Members” focuses on a particular JPNIC member engaged in interesting activities. This time, we visited Wingtechnology Communications inc. headquartered in Kofu City Yamanashi. The company is a member of the Sannichi YBS Group, a comprehensive information media group that includes the core companies of The Yamanashi Nichinichi Shimbun and Yamanashi Broadcasting System Inc. They contribute greatly to the development of an information communication environment in Yamanashi Prefecture supporting the information infrastructure of colleges, financial institutions, local governments, cable television, and so on. Some of their members have been involved with the Internet since the late 1980s, and even the sales staff boast a good understanding of Internet technologies, which gives them a great all-around understanding of the Internet. They back this up with good technical capabilities, and an environment that allows them meet the wide-ranging needs of their customers. We were also very impressed by their enthusiastic support for community activities, such as hosting JANOG51 Meetings, cooperating with JPNIC's IPv6 seminars, and providing learning support for college students in Yamanashi Prefecture.

“The Internet Loves You” is a corner in which we introduce a person who is active in the Internet industry. This time, we introduce Mr. Yuichi Yomogita, who is engaged in backbone network operation and acts as a peering manager at Internet Initiative Japan Inc. He talks about his long experience with ISP's infrastructure management, his thoughts on community activities, his goals and hobbies, and more. We got the idea from our conversation that he really values what he does.

In our “10 Minute Internet Course”, we explore the keyword "blockchain". These days, blockchain has become a topic that receives a lot of attention in the news. When it comes to blockchain, many think of cryptocurrency. but the technology is now known not only for its role in cryptocurrency, but as a platform for development of applications called "smart contracts". Associate Professor Naoto Yanai and Ms. Chihiro Kado, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, explain blockchain with a focus on smart contracts and related technologies.

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!!