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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

Format of IP address

Format of a domain name

Each element of a domain name separated by [.] is called a “label.” The maximum length of each label is 63 characters, and a full domain name can have a maximum of 253 characters. Alphanumeric characters and hyphens can be used in labels, but a domain name must not commence or end with a hyphen. Further, uppercase and lowercase letters are treated as equivalent. The right-most label conveys the “top-level domain (TLD),” and the second label from the right represents the “second level domain.” A label to the left of the second level domain is called the “third level domain”, and there can be fourth, fifth, etc. level domains.

DNS (Domain Name System)

The DNS is the system to associate IP addresses, which are easily processed by computers, to domain names, which are comprehensible to people. It is the equivalent of the address book for the Internet. Conversion of an IP address into a domain name, or vice versa, using the DNS is called “name resolution.”

The DNS forms a hierarchical structure, looking like a tree upside down (tree structure), with the top part called the “root” ([“ “] in the figure) and the space extending down to lower hierarchies. In this root space (the root zone), there is a DNS server called the root server, which has information on the manager of each TLD. Beneath the root, TLDs such as .com and .jp are allocated, and DNS servers for managing each TLD are placed. This works in a similar way for the second level domain, the third level domain and so on. Multiple domain names with the same label cannot exist in a given domain, so uniqueness is ensured across the entire space.

gTLD (Generic Top Level Domain)

Some domain names can be registered by anyone from anywhere in the world with no particular limitation, while others have certain conditions for registration. For example, a specific industry may be defined to be eligible to register a name under a particular domain. Examples of the former are .com, .net, .org and so on, and the latter applies to .edu, .pro, .museum and so on. The number of gTLDs as of September 2013 was 22, then a large-scale request for gTLD proposals commenced in 2012. New gTLDs have been added since October 2013, and the number exceeded 570 as of April 2015. Further additions will continue to be made in the future, and it is expected that more than 1,300 gTLDs will be added in the end.

ccTLD (Country Code Top Level Domain)

A ccTLD is a TLD allocated to each country or territory based on a two- letter code stipulated in ISO-3166-1 alpha-2 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and it is based on the country code (two letters) of ISO 3166-1. There are 299 ccTLDs (including Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)) as of April 2015. Management policy of ccTLDs is determined at each TLD, so some ccTLDs will accept registrations from anywhere in the world, while the others limit registration to entities located in their country or territory such as .jp.

JP domain name

The ccTLD for Japan, .jp, consists of four types: Organizational Type JP Domain Name, Geographic Type JP Domain Name, General-use JP Domain Name, and Prefecture Type JP Domain Name.

Type		Eligibility criteria	Example
General-use JP Domain Name		Any individual, group or organization that has an address in Japan	example.jp
Organizational Type JP Domain Name
	co.jp	Corporation body such as a stock company or limited company	example.co.jp
	or.jp	Incorporated foundation, incorporated association, union organization, etc.	example.or.jp
	ne.jp	Network service	example.ne.jp
	ac.jp	University, etc.	example.ac.jp
	ad.jp	JPNIC member, network management organization, etc.	example.ad.jp
	ed.jp	Kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, high school, etc.	example.ed.jp
	go.jp	Government agency, independent administrative agency, etc.	example.go.jp
	gr.jp	Voluntary group organized by multiple individuals or corporations	example.gr.jp
	lg.jp	Ordinary local public agency, special district, etc.	example.lg.jp
Geographic Type JP Domain Name
	General Geographic Type Domain Name	Organization that complies with requirements of another category of Organizational Type JP Domain, individual who lives in Japan and hospital	example.shinjuku.tokyo.jp
	Local Public Agency Domain Name	Ordinary local public agency and its institution, special district and its institution	metro.tokyo.jp