What are IDNs?

In the past, domain names could only contain English characters, so websites that wanted a Japanese domain name would be forced to use Romaji.  For example, “nyuusu.com” might be used instead of “ニュース.com.”  However, Romaji domains have several disadvantages:

• They aren’t “real” Japanese
• They look unfamiliar to Japanese people
• They don’t elicit an emotional response
• They are hard to remember
• They are not good for SEO (search engine optimization)

All of these problems are solved by IDNs (International Domain Names). IDNs are domains that can contain real Japanese characters in any combination of Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. By developing our Japanese sites with IDNs, we hope to encourage their use and make the web a more comfortable place for our Japanese visitors.