IDN Domain Blog about Japanese Domains
JPRS ends support for IDN Domain browser plugin
In October 2002 JPRS released i-Nav a browser plugin that allowed Japanese users to type in IDN domains in IE6.
At the time IE6 had at least a 90% market share in Japan. With the release of IE7 in November 2006, & the Windows auto update in Feb 2008 the need for the plugin started to diminish.
As of today the plugin is unnecessary since most browsers support IDN domains.
If you are using a domain service in Japan you may have noticed that all of them have notices for maintenance going on monthly. I expect that this if for the anticipated new .日本 IDN CCTLD.
An associate of mine used a domain service I wasn’t familiar with. After looking at the site I found .jp related news & updates.
競争原理の導入を企図して実施された公募でしたが、結局、応募は1社にとどまり、推薦された事業者は「.jp」の管理運営事業者と同じ「日本レジストリサービス(JPRS)」となりました。
今後は総務省による承認、ICANNによる審査・承認の手順を経て、最終的に管理運営事業者が決定されます。
実際に「.日本」の使用が可能となるのは、2011年の後半以降になると予想されます。
JPRSは、「.日本」については「.jp」の付加サービスとして提供し、「.日本」のドメイン名登録者と「.jp」のドメイン名登録者を完全に一致させることで、社会的混乱を防止するというビジョンを掲げています。
Maybe I just missed it but it states second half of 2011. I hope it’s wrong & at least it debuts summer time. I expect JPRS to try to do some promotions since they have been receiving all this domain money for years.
Here’s the link to the original article
http://domainname.jp/topics/20101015.html
I talked to Darshaun President of WIXI, Inci & he wrote a new article over at Circle ID.
Truthfully there are only a few people that I regard to as a sempai(Senior) in Japan when it comes to domain marketing. Edwin (unfortunately we have never met), Steve & Darshaun of Wixi are amongst them. Even though I sometimes praise JPRS I understand that people like Darshaun who have to deal directly with JPRS may see things differently. In his article Darshaun talks about JPRS registering mass amounts of domains. For those in IDNs this may also refer to those prized IDNs that are in reserve status. As I keep mentioning Reserved doesn’t mean it won’t be used. They will. It just will cost.
Here’s a small quote from the article but go to the full article from the link below
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20101108_big_rumble_in_tokyo_over_jprss_announcement_to_offer_gtld_domains/
WIXI’s homepage: www.Wixi.jp
& also follow WIXI on Twitter: twitter.com/wixijp
“Whereas we hear about the “bottom up process” throughout the domain industry around the world, we have a “top-down”, “dictator-style” registry model in Japan. Let’s take a look at how this evolved. Up until the year 2000, JPNIC (a not-for-profit association) was the organization which managed all domains and IP addresses in Japan. In the latter part of 2000, JPRS was established as a for-profit Japanese corporation which was given the task of launching top-level .jp names and over the course of several years, taking on management of all .jp domains. The Japanese government blessed this arrangement by approving the transfer and giving approval to ICANN. At that time, JPNIC was given the task of “over-seeing” JPRS to make sure their activities were in the best interest of society, business, technology and the government. But this was just the beginning of where the situation gets extremely interesting. JPNIC and some of its employees became share-holders of this for-profit monopoly called JPRS, becoming a band of share-holder brothers, self-supervising themselves, and in the meantime, receiving governmental monopoly protection.”
http://jidnc.jp/?p=690
After reading a bit more I went to the homepage of the Japan Internet Domain Name Council.
I read a post that states the deadline for the application was the 16th & after looking again & noticed it showed the number of applicants.
応募者数 ： １社
Number of Applicants: 1 Company
I thought I read it wrong or something. This is great hopefully they quickly launch & give me my
ダイヤモンド.日本 (Diamond)
格安旅行.日本 (Cheap Travel)
格安ホテル.日本 (Cheap Hotels)
& I thought this day sucked.
*** Update after thinking about it. If only one company applied the company that everyone else thought would get it anyway. Then why did they make us wait this long? They could have just cut to the chase.
Let’s see who’s domains become examples for dot Nihon. I might try to pretty a few up.
I don’t post much about .日本 mainly because there’s a lot that lead up to finally getting there & JPRS has been burnt in the past by promoting IDNs.
I just wonder looking through one of the JPRS sites & seeing that there is a deadline until the 15th of the most to try to run the .日本 registrations.
There’s only 2 companies I could think of remotely interested in this & big enough to do it right. That’s JPRS or GMO. Personally I don’t “think” GMO would run it because of the hassle factor. Many companies are now recovering from last years economic downfall & still want to be a bit streamlined. Either way they make money if JPRS gets it & starts promoting .日本.
Why is Japan taking so long to implement IDN extensions?
For being one of the few IDN investors residing in Japan that blogs in English I think I can give a unique perspective on the issue of IDN extensions in Japan. I am aware that other countries have applied for IDN extensions but it seems like Japan has not been so quick to respond.
I think what we need to do is look back at the history of Japan & IDNs as a whole. Japan registry was completely full blown out with promoting IDNs when launched. This also came at a time when they also launched .jp extension. Before this to own a Japan domain the only option was a co.jp & it had to belong to a company. A company is only allowed one. You choose the wrong name, or other situations like you change what your company offers & you were screwed. For the co.jp it was mainly just the company name no extras.
Then .jp came along IDN & ASCII. If you look at my attached chart both did actually very well until, well until people figured out that the IDNs couldn’t be used because of the domainant browser IE6 wasn’t IDN compatible. This killed it as being something JPRS could be bullish on with advertising. Looking at the data both would have done well if it wasn’t for Microsoft & IE6.
What went on at that time was that domain services had to make multiple changes to their systems just to prepare for IDNs in the first place. From speaking to the Wixi team Darshaun & Steve , they went through hell making technology compatibility changes. After all the changes the domains even thought they were bought couldn’t be used properly until now.
Now fast forward to 2009. We now have IDN ccTLDs & Japan is seemingly slow to respond. Word that I’ve heard from people who actually went to ICANN meetings is that supposedly the extensions were supposed to come out late this year. I realize in other countries they are implemented already. The companies that control the domains in Japan are very strong companies here. I believe they want to wait till the system is right until they start changing technology again like years ago. I know many domain investors etc think “Oh it’s easy”. The reality is saying its easy & being the one to do the actual work is different.
I haven’t pried to ask friends about when the system will be applied for or complete. It will come & a lot of the people who read my blog already have good premium IDNs in dot jp. I’ll update on this when I can but I think they just want to get it right this time.
The IDN jp stats are here
http://jpinfo.jp/stats/domains.html