ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an historical perspective on human interaction, specifically self-narratives via computer-mediated communication in Japan, including in the pre-Internet era. It focuses on self-narratives because these have been a prominent feature of the Japanese Internet from early on. The Japanese digital network first originated in 1985 with the enactment of the Telecommunications Business Act. Until this point, Japan’s electronic communication industry had been dominated by two companies that had divided telecommunications into domestic and international sectors. The Japan Network Information Center which managed Japan’s domain name service, started its operations in 1991. The first commercial Internet service provider, Internet Initiative Japan, started its services in 1992. Communication on self-narratives on the pre-Internet domestic networks provided a context for later developments—on the Web, and then on social media. The pre-Internet pasokon tsushin era was when the Japanese first began to use digital networks for their personal communication.
