28 July 2025

.sakura New gTLD Application

28 July 2025

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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: SAKURA Internet Inc.

String: sakura

Originally Posted: 13 June 2012

Application ID: 1-1163-37277

Applicant Information

Full legal name

SAKURA Internet Inc.

Address of the principal place of business

Sakaisuji Hommachi Bldg. 9F

1-8-14 Minami-hommachi

Chuo-ku Osaka 541-0054

Phone number

+81 6 6265 4830

Fax number

+81 6 6265 4834

If applicable, website or URL

http:⁄⁄www.sakura.ad.jp

Primary Contact

6(a). Name

Mr. Katsuyuki Ikeda

6(b). Title

not applicable

6(c). Address

6(d). Phone Number

+81 3 5332 7070

6(e). Fax Number

+81 3 5332 7080

6(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Secondary Contact

7(a). Name

Mr. Tomonori Machida

7(b). Title

not applicable

7(c). Address

7(d). Phone Number

+81 3 5332 7070

7(e). Fax Number

+81 3 5332 7080

7(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Proof of Legal Establishment

8(a). Legal form of the Applicant

Inc.

8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).

Tokyo District Court

8(c). Attach evidence of the applicant's establishment.

Attachments are not displayed on this form.

9(a). If applying company is publicly traded, provide the exchange and symbol.

Tokyo_Stock_Exchange;37780

9(b). If the applying entity is a subsidiary, provide the parent company.

9(c). If the applying entity is a joint venture, list all joint venture partners.

Applicant Background

11(a). Name(s) and position(s) of all directors

Kunihiro Tanaka President

Masaaki Tateno Executive Vice President

Masataka Kawada Director

Munehisa Murakami Director

Shinichi Kawaratani Non-executive director⁄NISSHO ELECTRONICS CORPORATION President and CEO

11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners

Kunihiro Tanaka President

Masaaki Tateno Executive Vice President

Masataka Kawada Director

Munehisa Murakami Director

Takashi Ohno Executive Officer⁄General Affairs Department Manager

Takayuki Takahashi Executive Officer⁄Operations Department Deputy General Manager

Toru Sawamura Executive Officer⁄Operations Department Manager

11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares

Sojitz Corportation Not Applicable

11(d). For an applying entity that does not have directors, officers, partners, or shareholders: Name(s) and position(s) of all individuals having legal or executive responsibility

Katsuyuki Ikeda Not Applicable

Applied-for gTLD string

Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.

sakura

14(a). If an IDN, provide the A-label (beginning with "xn--").

14(b). If an IDN, provide the meaning or restatement of the string in English, that is, a description of the literal meaning of the string in the opinion of the applicant.

14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (in English).

14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (as referenced by ISO-639-1).

14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (in English).

14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (as referenced by ISO 15924).

14(e). If an IDN, list all code points contained in the U-label according to Unicode form.

15(a). If an IDN, Attach IDN Tables for the proposed registry.

Attachments are not displayed on this form.

15(b). Describe the process used for development of the IDN tables submitted, including consultations and sources used.

15(c). List any variant strings to the applied-for gTLD string according to the relevant IDN tables.

Describe the applicant's efforts to ensure that there are no known operational or rendering problems concerning the applied-for gTLD string. If such issues are known, describe steps that will be taken to mitigate these issues in software and other applications.

The Registry Operator of SAKURA Internet Inc. (SAKURA Internet), is currently providing the existing TLD Registry services, including the registration of the Japanese domain name for the second level. Similar to those TLDs, as per the specification for the most safe and secure IDN operation, SAKURA Internet will restrict the applicable strings (qualify only within ACSII and Japanese characters) and normalize double-byte numerals and characters to a one-byte letter for .sakura in order to address the Japanese-specific issues. Moreover, our .sakura operations will be able to promptly respond to the changes in the IDN-related conditions and to the relevant RFC issuances, and incorporate the latest trends and updates in our services.

(OPTIONAL) Provide a representation of the label according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/).

Mission/Purpose

18(a). Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD.

18.1. DEFINITION

For the purpose of this answer, we have defined the following in the alphabetical order:

Critical Registry Functions:

Functions that are critical to the operation of a gTLD registry:

1) Domain Name System (DNS) Resolution

2) Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC)

3) Shared Registration System (SRS) by means of the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP)

4) Registration Data Publication Service by means of the WHOIS protocol

5) Registry Data Escrow

Domain Name Users:

The users of ʺ.sakura:ʺ SAKURA Internet will be the users of the gTLD.

SAKURA:

Japanese Cherry Blossoms

SAKURA Internet:

SAKURA Internet Inc. (Tokyo Stock Exchange MOTHERS:3778)

.sakura Registrant:

The registrant of ʺ.sakura:ʺ SAKURA Internet Inc. is the sole registrant of the gTLD.

.sakura Registrar:

An ICANN accredited Registrar for .sakura:SAKURA Internet will designate the registrar.

.sakura Registry Operator:

The registry operator which will operate the front and back-end registry services and necessary operations to support those services:SAKURA Internet intends to outsource the registry operation to a particular third party.

SLD (s) :

The Second Level Domain (s)

18.2. OUR MISSION

SAKURA Internet Inc. (ʺSAKURA Internetʺ) was established on August 17, 1999, and in just 6 years of rapid growth, we became a public company on October 12, 2005, listed under Tokyo Stock Exchange MOTHERS (Market Of The High-growth and EmeRging Stocks) :Code 3778. Since the IPO, our business has maintained a steady performance and growth by carrying out our services with a company motif, ʺSAKURA,ʺ which has attracted widespread popularity, and we have become one of Japanʹs leading IT companies. While we have been considered as a blue-chip company, securing investorʹs confidence for a long period of time, SAKURA Internet has been selected as one of the 15 component stocks of ʺTokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Core Index.ʺ

SAKURA Internet is a datacenter services provider, and our core businesses are comprised of FIVE service operations: (1) the Colocation services; (2) the Shared Hosting services; (3) the Dedicated Hosting services; (4) the Virtual Private Server (VPS) services; and our most recent business development (5) IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) Cloud Computing services.

We have launched our internet hosting services in December of 1996, prior to the incorporation, and we have been growing the number of users successfully since then.

As of March 2012, we are one of Japanʹs top-class independent data center services providers, and proud of the number of zones delegated by sakura.ne.jp in use that has grown up to approximately 500,000.

The proposed concept (goals) of the ʺ.sakura Initiativesʺ encompass several ideas: (A) protecting the momentum of our business growth and 16 years worth of our penetration with the ʺSAKURAʺ Internet brand, by applying ICANN for ʺ.sakura;ʺ (B) leveraging ʺ.sakuraʺ effectively to achieve advanced user-friendliness and to gain the loyalty of our customers for the purposes of consumer trust and choice; (C) taking advantages of a safer and more secure domain name environment by providing ʺ.sakuraʺ for the purposes of creating new projects and conducting various research and studies; and (D) implementing an environment where we plan =〉 develop =〉 commercialize new features to establish an optimized and most advanced ʺservice value chain,ʺ by adopting ʺ.sakuraʺ for the purpose of promoting robust competition.

ʺ.sakuraʺ is a significant opportunity for SAKURA Internet, which is currently in practice to operate and manage all the data center services on a one integrated platform. For instance, by consolidating the SAKURA Internet domain name environments, we will attain the opportunity to directly contribute to improve service levels, user experiences and brand awareness. Furthermore, since SAKURA Internet has been conventionally user oriented in practicing research and preventive management for the countermeasures against abusive uses and fraudulent activities, by implementing the new gTLD we will be able to enhance our capabilities to research and plan for a safer and more secure environment for the use of internet. Consequently, along with the price reduction achieved by our economies of scale, our capabilities will lead to a healthier and robust competitive services market.

We feel certain that this process of enhancement will contribute to our innovative future goal of ʺexporting the Japanese data center services in overseas,ʺ and to the further penetration of and fulfilling the needs for the use of domain names.

18.3. OUR PREMISE

(1) We intend to utilize .sakura effectively for improving the vital use, promoting, expanding and growing the new gTLD as well as our existing TLDs.

(2) SAKURA Internet will be the sole Registrant of the proposed .sakura, and we will primarily control the use of the SLDs by our own registration policies and through a process of qualification, restricting the use within ourselves. Therefore, as an assumption, we expect no multiple domain name applications for the same name space. Example of the SLDs:rentalservername.sakura, r&dprojectname.sakura

(3) As we have the liberty of selecting a Registrar for .sakura at our discretion from the existing ICANN Accredited Registrars, we plan to identify and appoint a Registrar of our choice, and outsource our entire Registry operations for the proposed .sakura Registry Services are further explained in the answer for #23 (Registry Services).

(4) SAKURA Internet will offer initial domain name registration for a period of 1 to 10 years, complying with the Registry Agreement. We do not intend to charge for the .sakura registrations. However, should we decide to charge fees for the registrations then we will notify the Registrar in advance, as per the Registry Agreement.

(5) Our measures to protect the privacy and confidential information of the .sakura users are explained in the answers for #30 (Security).

(6) As per the cost benefits of .sakura, we anticipate the most impact on our core business domain⁄market. We will take full and direct advantage in maintaining our branded business momentum. Meanwhile, by using .sakura proactively, we will encourage the domain name markets to expand the new gTLD and the existing TLDs. Consequently, we anticipate the impacts and influences in ʺcreating future valuesʺ by improving the vital use and expanding the scale of the domain name usage.

(7) In terms of the benefits offered to the customer market, .sakura will promote customer trust and choice (for both business and consumer) by simplified domain names and easier internet search and access, and by exclusive and authenticated access to the correct and desired information (by more direct keyword ʺgTLDstringʺ search). For specific descriptions of the purposes and benefits, please see #18.7 (OUR OBJECTIVES & PURPOSES).

(8) As described in #18.9 (OUR EFFORTS ON .sakura EXPANSION), we believe our proposed marketing and public relations activities, as well as our communications outreach, are efficient and effective measures to achieve our projected benefits.

(9) SAKURA Internet projects the number of .sakura SLD registrations, based on the existing services offered, to be around 10 during the initial year, 20 during the second year, and 100 in the third year. Even with a maximum estimation, the numbers may increase up to no more than 1000 during the planned three years.

18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

18.4. GENERAL BACKGROUND

SAKURA Internet Inc. has launched its internet hosting services in December of 1996, and as of March 2012, we are proud that we are a service provider with over 500,000 (sakura.ne.jp) zones, and with over 300,000 internet hosting services in use (active memberships). With our economies of scale and many accomplishments, SAKURA Internet has become one of Japanʹs top-class service providers.

The market trend in demand for the data center services in Japan is typically represented by keywords or phrases such as ʺrelieving the initial cost impact,ʺ ʺshifting from ownership to usership-oriented,ʺ ʺmoving from inner city to outer city,ʺ in line with such themes as ʺIT cost reduction,ʺ ʺoff-balance sheet IT assets,ʺ ʺBCP⁄DR solutions.ʺ On the other hand, the market trend in supply may be described by the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake, to begin with, as well as the increasing business entries into the Japan market by foreign corporations and emerging start-up companies. Consequently, those phenomena have raised major challenges such as ʺelectric power supply issuesʺ and ʺintensified pricing competition (commoditization) .ʺ

SAKURA Internet has recognized those market signals or trends in early stages, and has been taking advantages of its existing services and competitive edges in a comprehensive manner. For instance, we have been engaged in enhancing competitiveness of our data centers (i.e. to implement full line of services, to increase efficiency and lower prices by the newly established PUE1.11 data center facilities, and to launch new services utilizing those advantageous idiosyncrasies). We have been further exploiting the business enterprise market (i.e. to provide services and solutions tailored for the government agencies and offices, through collaborations with business partners). Additionally, we have been engaged in establishing a single and total IT services platform (i.e. to provide a platform⁄infrastructure which allows us to manage and operate data center services in an integrated fashion).

In enhancing our efforts for the above business strategies and operational idiosyncrasies, SAKURA Internet has decided to apply and propose ICANN for ʺ.sakuraʺ because we believe that we and ʺ.sakuraʺ will be able to contribute to the innovations in the use of domain names and to the future expansion of the TLD market.

18.5. ʺ.sakuraʺ INITIATIVES

We have developed the ʺ.sakuraʺ INITIATIVES in applying ICANN for the new gTLD.

The ʺ.sakuraʺ INITIATIVES aim at achieving following FOUR goals:

A) Protect the brand by acquiring ʺ.sakuraʺ
B) Leverage the domain names by utilizing ʺ.sakuraʺ
C) Research the domain environment by studying ʺ.sakuraʺ
D) Envision the future by implementing ʺ.sakuraʺ

The above four goals are in line with our current SAKURA Internet management strategies and our business development, and outlined as follows:

A) Protect the brand by acquiring ʺ.sakura:ʺ

SAKURA Internet is one of the leading data center services providers in Japan, and our initiatives for the new gTLD is a significant opportunity for SAKURA Internet, because our goal essentially is to expand the existing scale of the domain name users in the internet market. However, since the same opportunity could become a threat to us, we have positioned our initial objective to acquire ʺ.sakuraʺ as a precautious defense measure to protect and maintain our well-penetrated ʺSAKURAʺ Internet businesses and its momentum. In acquiring ʺ.sakura,ʺ we propose the following three additional objectives (B, C & D).

B) Leverage the domain names by utilizing ʺ.sakura:ʺ

As SAKURA Internet expects to become the accredited Registry of .sakura, we intend to consolidate our domain names into ʺ.sakuraʺ for the purpose of our business activities. Furthermore, we consider the possibility of transitioning the domains of servers used for our existing services, into the ʺ.sakuraʺ domain. By leveraging ʺ.sakuraʺ and making full use of the new gTLD features, we will be able to offer higher usability and ease of access (short and memorable strings) for the customer market to actually experience.

C) Research the domain environment by studying ʺ.sakura:ʺ

The various data center services that SAKURA Internet provides are offered to a wide range of users, including general consumers, engineers, businesses and institutions. For the last 16 years, the services have been offered and trusted through the same brand, and we take pride in our services that are highly competitive, secure and economical. By implementing an authenticated domain name space, we will not only be able to protect the registered trademarks and credibility, but it will also allow us to count on the effects to achieve safer and more secure services. For instance, the knowledge and know-how acquired from the implementation will help our corresponding team for the abusive uses (ʺThe ABUSE Response Teamʺ) and our dedicated research team (ʺThe Research Centerʺ) for their basis of research and studies. Additionally, we believe that the results of our research and studies, by extension, will contribute to the various research related activities, one of which aims for a robust and safer internet, for example by reinforcing the information sharing and advocating new technologies and techniques with the security related industry organizations.

D) Envision the future by implementing ʺ.sakura:ʺ

The SAKURA Internet business strategies for the future include our vision to create data center and cloud computing services that are competitive ʺnot only in the Japanese market, but are also competitive enough to export in the overseas markets.ʺ Evidently, we have newly built a PUE1.11 data center, domestically, as a part of our efforts in striving to improve efficiency and to lower the operational costs, focused on the emerging cloud computing services market. We position ʺ.sakuraʺ as a crucial part of our vision, and along with other goals ʺto establish a single and total IT services platformʺ and ʺto structure a framework for the planning and development to produce innovative services,ʺ we plan to take full advantages of our research capabilities (mentioned in C) and optimize the use of the environment and features of ʺ.sakuraʺ to design and create new services.

Our ʺ.sakura INITIAIVESʺ are derived from the following key questions:Why do we need it? What responsibilities will we have? Who will benefit from it? How will it work (What are the objectives) ? What will it offer (What value will it provide) ? Each answer is explained in detail in the subsequent chapters.

18.6. OUR CHALLENGES

SAKURA Internet is one of Japanʹs top-class independent data center services providers, and with a company motif, ʺSAKURA,ʺ our customers have been using sakura.ne.jp and sakura.ad.jp over the past 16 years. The opportunity to apply for the new gTLD this time around is critical for the well-developed, -established, -maintained and -penetrated ʺSAKURAʺ brand, for the purposes of our future business growth and momentum, but the same opportunity could become a threat to us at the same.
The Web analytic tool, ʺAlexa,ʺ and the search engine, ʺGoogle,ʺ both show the results that the keyword search by ʺsakuraʺ will rank ʺSAKURA Internetʺ in the top listings. The results prove that the logic of ʺsakuraʺ = ʺSAKURA Internetʺ to be true, and that the string is well recognized today from the usersʹ perspective, especially in the internet world for both domestic and overseas. . Based upon the results and the characteristics of the search engines, we are convinced that the solid ʺSAKURA Internetʺ brand has penetrated the Japanese society for a long period of time. That is to say, we are urged to protect our existing corporate brand as a responsibility towards consumers and society.
SAKURA Internet has over 300,000 customers⁄members, and is currently providing many means through which they communicate and access information. We are urged to increase the customer values and consolidate the domain names for the purposes of surviving the competition, differentiating our services in the future, gaining recognition, sustaining and improving the customer loyalty, even more.
For the purposes of managing the operations of such size described in 3, the needs of methods for cost reductions and management efficiency have increased as business grows, and new solutions are required for maintaining services and domain name management.
The quality of the SAKURA Internet services has been proven to be a safer and secure choice, by our user scale and groups such as consumers, businesses and government offices. Our motto is to evolve from a user perspective by making continuous efforts to maintain the robust and competitive environment, and our social mission is to always research to achieve safer, more secure and competitively priced services. As Japanʹs leading data center and domain name services provider, we are expected by the industry to sustain our motto and mission.
SAKURA Internet, as an independent industry leader, is certain that implementing ʺ.sakuraʺ ahead of other players is important for the industry. As we apply for the new gTLD, we feel that it is our mission to accumulate the knowledge and know-how pertaining to the features, intended purposes and safety of gTLD, and to share the information with the various communities that aspire for the healthy and robust internet.
SAKURA Internet has kept growing for the last 16 years, and as Japanʹs major data center services provider we have been offering services that are high in quality, easy to use and competitive (technology and price). In other words, we are expected to sustain and continue to be in the industry leading role.
SAKURA Internet has a future vision which is the basis of its business plan and strategies. It is a dream and planned scheme ʺto create data center and cloud computing services that are competitive enough to export in the overseas markets.ʺ

18.7. OUR OBJECTIVES & PURPOSES

A) Protect the brand by acquiring ʺ.sakura:ʺ

〈 Domain Name Users 〉

SAKURA Internet (Management)

〈 Mission⁄Purpose 〉

SAKURA Internet is one of the leading data center services providers in Japan, and has been very successful under the same ʺSAKURAʺ brand for over 16 years. Our mission to implement the new gTLD is a significant opportunity for SAKURA Internet, because our goal essentially is to expand the existing scale of the domain name users in the internet market. However, since the same opportunity could become a threat to us, we have decided to apply ICANN for ʺ.sakuraʺ for the purpose of protecting the brand.

〈 Objectives & Advantages 〉

We propose to acquire ʺ.sakuraʺ as a precautious defense measure to protect and maintain our well-penetrated ʺSAKURAʺ Internet business domain and its successful momentum.

B) Leverage the domain names by utiizing ʺ.sakura:ʺ

〈 Domain Name Users 〉

SAKURA Internet (Sales Department, Public Relations and Advertising Department, General Affairs Department and Accounting & Finance Department)

〈 Mission⁄Purpose 〉

SAKURA Internet intends to consolidate its domain names into ʺ.sakuraʺ for the purpose of its business activities. Furthermore, we consider the possibility of transitioning the domains of servers used for our existing services, into ʺ.sakura.ʺ Our mission to leverage ʺ.sakuraʺ by offering higher usability and ease of access (short and memorable strings) for the existing and potential customer markets, and to realize an environment, where the users become more conscious of and take more into account the potential purposes of the exiting TLDs, will consequently differentiate us from the competitions and improve our corporate brand awareness and customer loyalty.

〈 Objectives & Advantages 〉

We believe that by consolidating our domain names into one, we could enjoy significant benefits and advantages, in terms of internet marketing (SEO and SEM). To the approximately 300,000 members of the SAKURA Internet services, who have been the advocates of our preserved solid brand for over 16 years, and to the other potential customers, we will leverage ʺ.sakura,ʺ a sophisticated gTLD and consistent with the TLD trend, to offer shorter and simplified URLs, which are more memorable and easier to identify, easier to access, and allow to reach the destination faster, because keyword search by a domain name string will conceivably achieve a higher search engine ranking. In other words, we are convinced that ʺ.sakuraʺ will improve the user access and usability dramatically, and create customer values & benefits.

Examples of the shortened URL:www.sakura.ad.jp⁄press⁄ will be www.press.sakura⁄

As a result of achieving the objectives and advantages mentioned above, we feel certain that our corporate brand awareness and customer loyalty will improve.

C) Research the domain environment by studying ʺ.sakura:ʺ

〈 Domain Name Users 〉

SAKURA Internet (The ABUSE Response Team and New Business Development Department)

〈 Mission⁄Purpose 〉

The various services that SAKURA Internet provides are offered to a wide range of users, including general consumers, engineers, businesses and institutions, because they have been trusted as well as highly competitive, secure and economical. One of the reasons why we have been so successful is that we have complete control over our own domain environment. For example, we have recognized achievements in advocating to IETF and in contributing to the open source communities. Our mission⁄purpose is to take full advantages of the features of the new gTLD and to realize a safer and more secure domain environment (i.e. preventing phishing attacks) for the internet community.

〈 Objectives & Advantages 〉

In the past, SAKURA Internet has been actively involved in preventive management. We have ʺThe Research Centerʺ and ʺThe ABUSE Response Teamʺ for the research and studies pertaining countermeasures against abusive uses and fraudulent activities on the internet. One of our objectives is to implement an authenticated domain name space, ʺ.sakura,ʺ which will allow us to protect the registered trademarks and credibility, and to have better and tighter control by the knowledge and know-how acquired from the implementation, helping The Center and The Team to research and prevent the abusive uses. As a result, ʺ.sakuraʺ will enable us to create new operation forms and structures (countermeasures), to achieve the most suitable operations for the domain environment, and the data center services provided over a most reliable environment. We, as a leader in the industry, will develop our proprietary research and studies to provide a safer and more secure environment for the use of internet, and will continue to contribute proactively to the internet society.

D) Envision the future by implementing ʺ.sakura:ʺ

〈 Domain Name Users 〉

SAKURA Internet (The Research Center, Marketing Department, Development Department and New Business Development Department)

〈 Mission⁄Purpose 〉

In the SAKURA Internet business strategies (goals) for the future, our vision is to create data center and cloud computing services that are competitive ʺnot only in the Japanese market, but also in the overseas markets.ʺ Evidently, our PUE1.11 data center, as a part of our efforts in striving to improve efficiency and lower the prices, focuses on the emerging cloud computing services market. As we position ʺ.sakuraʺ as a crucial part of our vision, our mission⁄purpose is to take full advantages of ʺ.sakuraʺ to design, create and deliver new lines of services, exploiting our underlying research capabilities.

〈 Objectives & Advantages 〉

SAKURA Internet has the substantial advantage in providing all the entire value chain, required for all the data center services, in house. Our objective is to implement the process, in which to create new services (namely ʺresearch and planning =〉 development =〉 commercializationʺ), through the ʺ.sakuraʺ environment, in order to enhance ʺthe single and total IT services platformʺ and ʺthe structured framework for the planning and development to produce innovative services.ʺ Meanwhile, we are certain that our objectives will lead us in the future to achieve the ʺdata center and cloud computing services that could compete in the overseas markets.ʺ

18.8. OUR REGISTRY SERVICES

Following are the EIGHT primary registry services (including critical functions) that SAKURA Internet plans to provide for .sakura. Please see #23 (Registry Services) for details.

(1) Domain Name Registration and Renewal

(2) Transfer of Registration between Registrars

(3) Name Server and Zone File Administration

(4) Operation of Whois Database

(5) Registrar Support Services

(6) Data Escrow

(7) DNSSEC

(8) Internationalized Domain Names

In our initial stage of this plan, SAKURA Internet will implement the above eight main services. Advanced features such as authentications and qualifications for the SLD users will be required for the third level domain name registrations and the SLD operations, and will be supported individually and accordingly.

18.9. OUR EFFORTS ON .sakura EXPANSION

SAKURA Internet plans for the following efforts and outreach activities in promoting the new gTLD and .sakura:

A) Protect the brand by acquiring ʺ.sakura:ʺ

- Apply ICANN for ʺ.sakuraʺ

- Register ʺ.sakuraʺ

B) Leverage the domain names by utilizing ʺ.sakura:ʺ

- Provide ʺ.sakuraʺ SLDs for our Sales Department, Public Relations and Advertising Department, General Affairs Department and Accounting & Finance Department

- Consolidate and transition the existing domain names and servers into ʺ.sakuraʺ

- Develop a ʺ.sakuraʺ dedicated Web site

- Produce and generate new Web contents and optimize navigation scheme for SEM and SEO

- Utilize ʺ.sakuraʺ as a PR tool for IR and corporate information distribution

- Utilize ʺ.sakuraʺ as a new internet marketing tool for sales and marketing communications

C) Research the domain environment by studying ʺ.sakura:ʺ

- Provide ʺ.sakuraʺ SLDｓ for our ABUSE Response Team and New Business Development Department

- Authenticate and administer the SLD users (identify, activate, deactivate)

- Develop a process and administration rules to evaluate and qualify SLD objectives and users

- Develop domain name operational rules & guidelines for the designated users

- Provide user support (how to use and to administer)

- Promote and educate about ʺ.sakuraʺ (i.e. as a case study) to business partners and various associated industries

- Utilize ʺ.sakuraʺ as the ʺsafer and more secureʺ PR tool

D) Envision the future by implementing ʺ.sakura:ʺ

- Provide ʺ.sakuraʺ SLDs for our Research Center, Marketing Department, Development Department, New Business Development Department

- Utilize ʺ.sakuraʺ for the service production and release cycle

- Authenticate and administer the ʺ.sakuraʺ SLD users

- Develop a process and administration rules to evaluate and qualify SLD objectives and users

- Develop domain name operational rules for the designated users

- Provide user support

- Promote and educate about ʺ.sakuraʺ (i.e. as a promotional tool) to the business partners

Other Outreach Activities

* Utilize ʺ.sakuraʺ as a communications tool for our stakeholders:authenticated ʺhighly securedʺ Investors Relations information channel

18(c). What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?

18.10. OUR PREMISE

(1) We intend to utilize .sakura effectively for improving the vital use as well as promoting, expanding and growing the new gTLD as well as our existing TLDs.

(3) As we have the liberty of selecting a Registrar for .sakura at our discretion from the existing ICANN Accredited Registrars, we plan to identify and appoint a Registrar of our choice, and outsource our entire Registry operations for the proposed .sakura. Registry Services are further explained in the answer for #23 (Registry Services).

(4) SAKURA Internet will offer initial domain name registration for a period of 1 to 10 years, complying with the Registry Agreement. We do not intend to charge for the .sakura registrations; however, should we decide to charge fees for the registrations, we will notify the Registrar in advance, as per the Registry Agreement.

(5) Our measures to protect the privacy and confidential information of the .sakura users are explained in the answers for #30 (Security).