Type: Privately held
Industry: Internet
Founded: 2000
Headquarters: Chiyoda First Bldg. East 13F, 3-8-1

Nishi-Kanda Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0065

Country: Japan
Employees: 76 as of 2011
Website: JPRS.co.jp
Key People
Koki Higashida, President

Susumu Sano, Vice President

Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.(JPRS) is the manager and administrator of the .jp county code top-level domain name (ccTLD). The company was an ICANN accredited registrar.

History edit

The .jp domain was originally delegated to Jun Murai on August 5, 1986 by the Information Sciences Institute at the University of California, a function which is now performed by IANA. Murai informally managed the .jp ccTLD for several years and eventually, in 1991, the Japan Network Information Center was established to provide a framework for the operation of the .jp top-level domain.[1]

In April, 1993, JNIC was reorganized as the Japan Network Information Center, with Japanese ISPs, research networks, and academic networks as its members. Murai served as first President of the organization. JPNIC was officially recognized by the Japanese government in 1997 as a non-governmental organization operating the .jp TLD for public interest.

As the Internet became more popular and the number of users registering domain names increased, a fair and efficient management of the .jp ccTLD was expected. In December, 2000, during the 11th General Meeting of JPNIC, it was resolved that a new corporation was needed to manage and administer the .jp ccTLD. On December 26, 2000, Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd. (JPRS) was incorporated.[2]

Jun Murai informed Michael Roberts, former President and CEO of ICANN, that JPNIC wished to execute a sponsorship agreement with ICANN. JPNIC wished to transfer the .jp domain name registration and management services to JPRS, a private subsidiary company which to be supervised by JPNIC.[3]

On January 31, 2002 the JP Domain Name Management and Administration Transfer Agreement was executed between JPRS and JPNIC and the .jp ccTLD Sponsorship Agreement was signed on February 27, 2002 between JPRS and ICANN. [4]

IDNs & ICANN edit

On June 12, 2003, Koki Higashida, president of JPRS wrote to Paul Twomey, ICANN President and CEO expressing the company's frustration regarding the slow process in the finalization of the International Domain Names Implementation Guidelines and Procedures as well as ICANN's unresponsiveness on the issue. Higashida pointed out that during the Board Meeting in Rio de Janeiro on March 23, 2006, Dr. Andrew McLaughlin mentioned that the first authorization of registration of IDN would be made over a couple of weeks by mid-April. According to him, the IDN service was delayed and the internet community in Japan hasn't received any explanation from ICANN; thus he was requesting Twomey to speed up the implementation of IDNs.[5]

In response to JPRS request, the company was given the authority to deploy IDN by ICANN, through its President and CEO Paul Twomey on June 30, 2003.[6]

JP Domain Name and General Use edit

The .jp TLD is the domain space for individuals and organizations in Japan. Any individual, group, or organization with a permanent postal address in Japan are eligible to register a 2nd level for the general-use (e.g. EXAMPLE.JP).[7]

Types of JP Domain Names edit

An individual or organization is only allowed to register one type of domain name. The types of domain name include: [8]

  • CO.JP- companies (kaisha)
  • OR.JP- judicial persons established under the laws of Japan (other than kaisha)
  • NE.JP- network service providers
  • AC.JP- schools under School Education Law or other laws institutions
  • ED.JP- educational institutions
  • GO.JP- government institutions in Japan
  • GR.JP- Groups of individuals or organizations
  • LG.JP- local government authorities

References edit