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• + Preface
• + Chapter1 Resource Management and Registry
  • Difference between management of IP addresses and domain names
  • Operation of IP address registry
  • Value of domain name as character string
  • Operation of domain name registry
  • Role of registry
• + Chapter2 Resource management before JNIC and JPNIC
  • How domain name management started
  • Start of IP address management
  • From JNIC to JPNIC
  • Column: Network groups involved in establishment of JNIC/JPNIC
• + Chapter3 Restructuring toward fully-fledged resource management by JPNIC
  • Center of the Internet community
  • Dispatching information as a Network Information Center
  • Column: Logo of JPNIC
  • Consideration to fee and membership structure of JPNIC
  • Relocation of the office along with the expansion of service
  • Incorporation of JPNIC
• + Chapter4 Transition of resource management policy for domain names
  • Coping with expansion of the Internet through policy development
  • Deployment of Geographic Type JP and its reconstruction into Prefecture Type JP
  • Introduction of ED.JP for elementary and secondary education institutions
  • Separation of NE.JP and GR.JP from OR.JP
  • Establishment of JP domain name registration rule
• + Chapter5 IP address policy in the fully-fledged Internet age
  • IP address management before the commercial Internet
  • Column: Routing
  • Two concerns regarding the commercial Internet
  • IPv6 as next-generation Internet protocol
  • Coming of CIDR age
  • Column: IP address notation based on CIDR
  • Economical use of IPv4 addresses with classless technology
• + Chapter6 Building the global IP address management structure
  • Departure from overconcentration at The NIC
  • APNIC Pilot Project
  • Establishment of three RIR framework
  • RIR-NIR-LIR framework
  • Column: Assignment Window
  • Transition of IP address policy development framework
  • Effort to establish global framework
• + Chapter7 Framework for global domain name management led by ICANN
  • Finding a domain name management framework for new era
  • Column: Green Paper and White Paper
  • Decision-making process and organizational structure adopted in ICANN
  • Involvement from Japan
  • ICANN's gTLD policy reforms
  • Column: Registry-registrar model and JP Registrar model ? “thick” registry and “thin” registry
  • New gTLDs
  • Relationship between IP address and ICANN
  • Epicenter of Internet governance
• + Chapter8 General-use JP Domain Name and establishment of JPRS
  • Limitations imposed by the organization’s form as an incorporated association
  • JP-DRP
  • General-use JP Domain Name
  • Establishment of JPRS
  • Starting General-Use JP Domain Name Service
  • Towards transfer of management and administration of JP domain name
• + Chapter9 “Publication” and “disclosure” of registration information
  • Registry mechanism to register and publish registration data
  • Spread of the Internet and registration information
  • Discussion on the handling of registration information
  • Organization/group information
  • Responding to Personal Information Protection Act
  • Reference: Documents on handling registration information
• + Chapter10 IPv4 address pool exhaustion and IPv6
  • IPv6 emerging on the Internet
  • Efforts of Japan towards IPv6 promotion
  • Expansion of the Internet through IPv4
  • Accelerated IPv4 address consumption through penetration of continuous connections
  • IPv4 address pool exhaustion becomes more of a reality
  • IPv4 address pool exhaustion and IPv6 educational activity
  • IPv4 address policy in the face of exhaustion
  • Internet over IPv6 after IPv4 exhaustion
• + Appendix1: IP address and domain name
• + Appendix2: Transition of Internet resource management
• + About History Compilation Team
• + Revision history

History of Internet Resources Management in Japan - Focusing on Domain Name and IP Address was originally compiled in Japanese, and this is English translation.

The Internet was born in the United States, but it evolved and expanded, connecting many networks and engaging many more people all around the world. Internet resource management also started in US, but it too expanded, particularly with Country Code TLDs and Regional Internet Registries (RIRs). Japan has been involved in the Internet since late 1980s as one of the pioneers, and so it was involved in the expansion of resource management. This document follows the history of the Internet, focusing particularly on resource management. Many chapters describe what happened in Japan, while others describe global movements, though often from Japan's perspective.

In general, this history has been simply translated from the original version, but there is additional text in some parts to provide more context for readers less familiar with the Japanese situation. The entire English content was edited by Mr. Gerard Ross, the former Communication Manager at APNIC who also recently compiled the history of APNIC^*1. The smoothness of the language is thanks to his effort, which the History Compilation Team appreciates very much.

We believe that Internet history from a country other than the US is an interesting and useful reference for people around the world. We do hope you enjoy it.

The Internet began as a network for a small community of researchers and engineers and has now become an everyday medium used by and familiar to people throughout the world. In addition to basic applications and user services, such as mail and file transfer services, more advanced and sophisticated offerings such as Web applications and cloud services are now emerging one after another.

Moreover, the new communication environment created by the Internet has gained such great power that it can contribute to the change of national regimes.

Against this backdrop, there is an active discussion of so-called Internet governance － how we should improve and develop Internet reliability and stability and within what sort of framework we should manage it.

Numbering and naming resources, such as Internet addresses (IP addresses) and domain names, support the very basis of the Internet, so the way these resources are managed is crucial to and fundamental for the sound development and operation of the Internet.

Smooth resource management directly influences the reliability and stability of the Internet as a whole and so is one of the most important themes of Internet governance. Therefore in any discussion of Internet governance, it is important to know how the current mechanism of resource management was established.

This document is a compilation of the history of resource management in Japan, focusing on the activities of JPNIC (Japan Network Information Center) and JPRS (Japan Registry Services).

JPNIC was formed by the Japanese Internet community to take the lead in resource management. Today JPNIC manages number resources, including IP addresses, and JPRS manages the JP domain name resources.

To compile this history, we made a number of revisions to “20 year history of JPNIC – Together with the Internet of Japan” issued in September 2013, and incorporated several additional reference materials. This sort of document usually presents events in chronological order, but here we describe the facts by topics to better trace the history of each event clearly. Therefore, this content can either be read in sequence, or dipped into for a particular area of interest.

We tried to present this history in such a way that it can explain the mechanism and background of resource management not only to experts on Internet resource management, but also to other regular people with no expert knowledge. We enjoyed a great deal of cooperation from many key players during this work, and we are profoundly grateful for their support.

Our hope is that this document will be of help to many people in understanding Internet resource management. Although we are confident that we have performed sufficient research into the contents to make them accurate, if you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at JPNIC <history-comment@nic.ad.jp>. We would also be happy to hear your opinions and feedback.

April 2015, History Compilation Team

Ver.1.0-April 2015

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