1. You’ve got be kidding! Asking about Japanese Domain Name at this late stage? Masato Minda Japan Registry Services 24 th January 2008, JANOG 21@Kumamoto

2. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.2 Objectives Hoping to enhance correct understanding among JANOGgers about Japanese Domain Name –It appears some misunderstanding is going around  –Network engineers should know at least this much – well, that’s my personal wish

3. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd. Japanese Domain Name quiz (1/2) Japanese Domain Name: –It is hard to operate as its Kanji code has several coding such as EUC, Shift JIS, Unicode (UTF-8, UTF-16) and etc. –It is too complicated as different input is required between double bytes and single bytes characters into a browser ( 日本語。ＪＰ => access is not allowed via all double bytes input) –It functions with using M Root Server (It gets by because M Root Server is located in Japan) Incorrect Correct 3

4. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.4 Japanese Domain Name quiz (2/2) Japanese Domain Name: –It applies special tweak to JP DNS –DNS server requires a compliant programme –WEB server requires a compliant programme –WEB ブラウザに対応プログラムが必要だ –WEB browser requires a compliant programme Incorrect Correct

5. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.5 IDN and Japanese Domain Name Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) enables to use different characters of any language as domain names by using Unicode characters group –IDN converts Unicode to Punycode (ASCII character string) therefore no needs to make changes in DNS etc. Japanese Domain Name applies techniques used in IDN to Japanese characters –It can be used via IDN compliance applications (Such application implements actual conversions)

6. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.6 User Web server ① Input an URL http:// 日本語.jp/ ② Brouser converts 日本語.jp to Punycode, then send a DNS request as xn--wgv71a119e.jp ③ Return its IP address ④ A request to the Web server GET / HTTP/1.1 Host: xn--wgv71a119e.jp ⑤ Return the content Concept of Web access DNS server "xn--“ is Punycode’s prefix (A difference from conventional ASCII Domain Name)

7. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.7 Technical framework of IDN Unicode original character string Unicode standardised character string ASCII character string [RFC3491] Nameprep Standardising characters’ expression [RFC3492] Punycode Convert to ASCII character string ABC カンパニー.jp ＡＢＣｶﾝﾊﾟﾆｰ.jp Ａ B Ｃカンハ゜ニー。 jp abc カンパニー.jp xn--abc-mj4b9f9a7rsc.jp Suitable for the existing Internet Infrastructure based on ASCII Characters [RFC3490] IDNA Defines methods of standardising and coding IDNs on networks

8. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.8 Main specifications of Japanese Domain Name Characters possible to be registered Conventional ASCII characters + ＋ Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji and some simbols Number of characters Up to 15 characters: regardless of double or single bytes Standardised expression No differentiation to followings Alphanumeric – double/single bytes, upper case/lower case Katakana – double/single bytes 「。」 and 「．」 (double bytes) Convert to a period “.” Note: Including characters specified by related RFCs Detailed technical rules regarding universal Japanese Domain Name registration http://jprs.jp/doc/rule/saisoku-1-wideusejp.html

9. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.9 TLD where you can register Japanese Domain Name (as of Jan 2008) com, net, biz are available besides jp –com, net, biz are available for Chinese, Korean etc. Japanese Domain Name for biz –Registrable characters are same as jp (it applies JP’s specification) Japanese Domain Name for com and net –It appears there is no specific standards defining registrable characters –Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana are possible to register –It appears registrable symbols are depends on registrars

10. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.10 Issues of homograph Seemingly same domain names http:// 日本レジストリサービス.jp/ ⇒ http://xn--vckfdb7e3c7hma3m9657c16c.jp/ http:// 日本レジストリサ一ビス.jp/ ⇒ http://xn--vckfdb7e3c7hma5118ds68b16c.jp/ Actual difference is either “ ー ” (linguistic long sound) or “ 一 ” numeric one in a Kanji character Similar issue exists in alphanumeric: –“l” and “1” and “O” and “0” Registry accepts registrations with matter-of- fact approach

11. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.11 Converting Japanese Domain Name to Punycode Convert by using Web CGI (suitable for small quantity) –http://punycode.jp/ (Punycode ⇒ Japanese is available as well) Convert by using tools (suitable for large quantity and batch processes) –idnkit http://www.nic.ad.jp/ja/idn/idnkit/download/ Command line toolidnconv Conversion librarylibidnkit etc. –GNU libidn Conversion library and tools of Emacs Lisp (Perl module is also available as a separate package.)

12. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.12 FAQs (1/2) What shall we do with SSL? –Configure with using Punycode in Common Name while generating CSR –Configure with using UTF8 in Common Name and also configure with using Pnycode in subjectAltName DNS Can we use http:// 日本語. 日本語.jp/ ?http:// 日本語. 日本語.jp/ –No problem Isn’t it enough just for searching? –Domain name has no need to take SEO countermeasure Having both merits and demerits How can we access via unsupported browsers? –Use http://jajp.jp/ (introduced at JANOG 14)

13. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.13 FAQs (2/2) How about email addresses? –Supported mailer application can handle domain name section only –Would like to internationalise local section (left of @ sign) as well! Currently IETF Email Address Internationalisation (EAI) WG is working to define required protocols How about internationalising TLD? –ICANN is currently testing with using 11 languages http://idn.icann.org/(Followings are some examples) http:// 例え. テスト /http:// 실례. 테스트 / http://مثال.إختبار/http://בײשפיל.טעסט/ http:// 例子. 测试 /

14. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.14 References 「 Immediately useful theory and practice for IDN 」 (in Japanese) http://www.atmarkit.co.jp/fnetwork/tanpatsu/11idn/idn1.html –It includes simple explanation about Punycode conversion algorithm http:// 日本語.jp/Japanese Domain Name portal site –Browsers supporting Japanese Domain Name etc. RFC related to IDN –RFC 3490Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) –RFC 3491Nameprep: A Stringprep Profile for Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) –RFC 3492Punycode: A Bootstring encoding of Unicode for Internationalized Domain Names in Applications (IDNA)

15. 2008-01-24Copyright©2008 Japan Registry Services Co., Ltd.15 Thank you for your attention!