Leslie, many thanks for these links. I'm aware of the Itos but not the others. Must go back and re-read The Virtual Community. (By the way, everyone, I asked for backchannel emails but if your email to me included the list as well, I'm assuming you want the conversation to be public and am including it in my reply too. Hope that is not too spammy. ) thanks Sue -----Original Message----- From: Leslie M. Tkach-Kawasaki [mailto:tkach@japan.email.ne.jp] Sent: 05 March 2011 13:00 To: Sue Thomas; air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] Seeking info about famous internet people *not* from North America Hi, Sue, For Japan, Jun MURAI, basically "The Father" of the Internet in Japan. For an English-language overview of his past and future visions in Japan, do a search in the Japan Times online (http://www.japantimes.co.jp/). Wrote two best-selling books about the possibilities of the Internet (in Japanese), one in the late 1990s and another about three or four years ago. Izumi AIZU, former head of GLOCOM (Center for Global Communications) in Japan. Colleague of Howard Rheingold, is the center of the chapter on Japan in "The Virtual Community" (http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/, see Chapter Seven link). Shumpei KUMON, another "Father of the Internet" in Japan. Founded the "New Institute for Social Knowledge and Collaboration" at Tama University. Also famous for for popularizing the phrase "Information Society" in Japan. Joichi ITO, ranked by TIME magazine as one of the "Cyberelite." Is on the board of Creative Commons and is a member of ICANN. Brother of Mimi ITO, famous for her research on cellular phone use in Japan (one of the editors of "Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life," probably the best-known English-language book on mobile phones in Japan). HTH Leslie -- *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Leslie M. Tkach-Kawasaki, Associate Professor Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Tsukuba Email: tkach@japan.email.ne.jp *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~