******************************************************************************* In Japan there are no GT BBS, but there are some English based BBS. The following is the list of Hong Kong and Singapore FidoNet BBS ******************************************************************************* [0m HOST 600 Singapore Area 65-2854136 SINGAPORE 1) Singapore Link 65-2854136 2) Wing Tech Exchange 65-4435681 3) Deckel 65-4668847 4) Net Link 65-7787393 5) Roy's Realm 65-3442977 6) Spacenet 65-7425347 7) Epson BBS 65-5338669 8) My Friend 65-5676750 10) MENUS 65-7722137 11) FEPLAN 65-2249287 12) Powerline 65-2524652 13) ISS High Technology 65-7722517 14) CompuAdd 65-2511274 17) Micron Information 65-4671519 18) OOSH! 65-5651792 19) Tropical Express 65-4439181 20) Inner Circle 65-2841856 =============================================================================== HONG KONG REGION =============================================================================== 1) TAIC OPUS 852-3-789-1267 Kowloon 2) C F C OPUS 852-5-873-2289 HK Island 3) DataWorld Twin Net/1 852-5-41-3631 HK Island 4) Dial-A-Net 852-3-778-7753 Kowloon HK 5) MedInfoNet -Unpublished- Kowloon HK 6) Stand Up Board 852-3-38-0970 Kowloon HK 7) Nice-Net 852-3-69-8647 Kowloon HK 10) CATNet Fido/1 852-5-46-6341 HK Island 12) DbMadNet 852-3-760-7742 Kowloon HK 13) SEANet/2 852-5-77-5621 HK Island 15) Alex's Board 852-0-412-1577 Kowloon HK 16) Cordy's Board 852-0-432-2538 Kowloon HK 17) Satellite Board/3 852-5-806-1048 HK Island 18) Electronic BBS 852-3-311-2816 Kowloon HK 19) ElfNet OPUS 852-3-729-5600 Kowloon HK 20) Ziggy BBS 852-5-819-4042 HK Island 21) Rookie's Board 852-5-50-8602 HK Island 22) Oriental HST 852-5-77-3389 HK Island 23) CompuNet Advanced RB 852-3-88-0580 Kowloon HK 24) Support Board 852-5-29-3353 HK Island 25) Macao InfoXchange 853-57-9266 Macao 26) PC Connection 853-8-4427 Macao =============================================================================== 04/30/90 THE GREATER TOKYO INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS LIST The 5th Edition (BBSTOK5.DOC) This edition compiled by: Yoshi Mikami, Fujisawa, Japan All the known public access bulletin board systems in the Greater Tokyo area in Japan that cater to English or bilingual English/Japanese speaking people are listed below: ------------------------------------- --------- ------------------------------- [;] ===================================== ========= =============================== AMIGA NET N.A. # 12 Write to c/o Mansoh, 26-4 Zo- Amiga Life Mag. Toshima-ku, Tokyo N.A. shigaya 2-chome, ZIP 171 Asian Express Netwk 03-964-6548 # 24 Eng., Jpnese, Chinese & Korean Fumio Suzuki Tokyo QuickBBS Int'l FidoNet 3:370/10 ASIJ BBS 0422-33-0381 V 24 At the American School in Japan Matan Arazi Chofu, Tokyo WWIV (K-12), largest int'l school AVXIA 03-355-4395 V 24 Free exchange of ideas. Kaz Shinada Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo QuickBBS Int'l FidoNet 3:730/9 B&B Shimokitazawa 03-419-1138 V D 24 M5 IBM. Model helicopter. TYMPAS. Shuichi Fujita Setagaya-ku, Tokyo Phoenix Net 40/1. Get 8bitNet # here. Big Blue Skies BBS 0466-24-6090 V 24 M4 Nature and astronomy. IBM. Yoshi Mikami Fujisawa, Kanagawa Phoenix Net 50/2 Collie Yokohama 045-894-7656 V 24 M5 IBM software. Maki Ohtoh Sakae-ku, Yokohama Phoenix Net 50/1 The First Amendment 03-813-1169 V 24 IBM & Macintosh. Talk about The Waszir Tokyo WWIV life in Japan. IMS-Net 03-408-0479 V 24 International Music Service. Jun Moriya Minato-ku, Tokyo QuickBBS Int'l FidoNet 3:730/6 INN 045-671-9727 V 24 Inter-school News Network, at Ed Bracha Yokohama, Kanagawa ProDOS St. Joseph's School/College. JANET II 03-417-2455 V 96 U Macintosh and Apple software. Frank Onda Tokyo RedRyder JANIS II 03-255-8856 V 96 U IBM software. On-line games & Pete Perkins Akihabara, Tokyo PCBoard news. MRT computer store. JUG-BBS 03-944-8193 V 12 Japanese Users Group. CP/M and (Multiple Sysops) Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo N.A. MS-DOS (PC Blue of N.J.) Kodaira Messenger 0423-45-8923 V 24 Excellent library of IBM soft- Jack Cook Kodaira, Tokyo Wildcat ware. MacEvent Network 0473-97-0922 V 24 Macintosh software. One of Nobuo Hayashi Urayasu, Chiba RedRyder oldest BBS networks in Japan Media Source II 03-593-1379 V 24 M4 Macintosh and Apple. Bilingual. Tadashi Mori Minato-ku, Tokyo RedRyder Also -593-0089 (3-1200bps) Micro Comm Network 0471-85-1088 V 96 M9 MCN. Contact point of FidoNet Junsei Yamada Abiko, Chiba Fido Japan. Int'l FidoNet 3:730/2 NIS BBS 03-798-2462 # 96 M5 Nishimachi International School Josh Thayer Minato-ku, Tokyo Phoenix (K-12). W/N & W/E. P and A 0425-46-9143 96 UM5 IBM software. Parlez-vous Patrick Hochner Akikawa, Tokyo Wildcat fran ais aussi?The Polyglot 03-464-0537 V 24 IBM & NEC *.DIFs. Translaters Arturo Perez Tokyo WWIV and copywriters. St. Mary's BBS 03-709-3463 V 24 M3 St. Mary's Int'l School, K-12. Joseph Kaye Setagaya-ku, Tokyo Phoenix IBM & Mac. Net 40/2 The Sanko Mall 045-641-3240 # 24 New BBS host program, born in Art Balfour Yokohama VBBS Yokohama, Japan (Ray Penas) Snoboard 0482-86-1307 - 24 M4 SNOBOL4, pattern matching lang. Masao Sekido Kawagoe, Saitama Magpie W/N & W/E SPL-BBS 045-314-0130 V 24 Software developers. Southern (Tech. Service) Yokohama, Kanagawa WWIV Pacific, Ltd., SW distributor The Space Board 045-832-1177 V 12 Astronomy data and notices. Run Yoshiro Yamada Yokohama, Kanagawa GBBS by Yokohama Science Museum SurfSide-Net 045-761-9406 - 96 M9V32 IBM & Apple software. Tatsuyuki Arai Yokohama, Kanagawa Fido Int'l FidoNet 3:730/1 Telecom-Board 0424-89-0384 V D 96 U IBM software, telecom programs. Masa Kawamura Chofu, Tokyo RBBS-PC W/N & W/E Tokyo PC 03-707-4689 V $ 24 M5 Solidly IBM. Club BBS of Tokyo Maynard Hogg Tokyo WWIV PC Users Group members. Urb Network 03-797-4460 # 24 M4 FM "J-Wave". The Mainichi Daily (Urb Magazine) Minato-ku, Tokyo WWIV News. Call 03-797-6520 M-F. ===================================== ========= =============================== *** The original list was created by Yukio Iura, Tokyo, in April, 1989 *** *** The list was significantly enlarged by Yoshi Mikami in Dec., 1989 *** WHAT'S NEW IN THE BBSdom IN GREATER TOKYO: 1. Effective March, 1990, NTT reduced the telephone charges by approximately 30 percent. The night time rate (11:00pm-8:00am) of local calls, for example, is now 10 yen per 4 minutes, vs. 10 yen per 3 minutes for the day time rate (8:00am-11:00pm). KDD also reduced our overseas telephone charges by about 30 percent. 2. VBBS, a new BBS host program made by Ray Penas, Yokohama, is running on The Sanko Mall, Art Balfour, Sysop. It's a bilingual BBS. 3. T. "Teddy" Matsumoto, Tokyo, donated LHEXE Version 1.50 to public domain in February, 1990. It unarchives the files in *.LZH storage (archived by H. "Yoshi" Yoshizaki's LHarc) into memory and executes them. The "Dynabook generation", who started to carry their notebook PCs such as Dynabook (Toshiba J3100SS) or On-Line Note (IBM 5499) with limited physical and VRAM disk space from September 1989, should find it extremely helpful. LEGEND: ACCESS is the access information: = Open access D = Open access, but validation delay for full access R = Registration required; Extended access available $ = Registration & payment required MAXIMUM LINE SPEED is the line speed code in bits per second: 3 = 300 12 = 1200 24 = 2400 96 = 9600 144 = 14400 192 = 19200MODEMS is the modem code: Mn= MNP Class n (Microcom, Aiwa, Omron, NEC, Fujitsu, IBM, etc.) V4= V.42 (Hayes 9600 and 19200 V.42, Aiwa 2400 V.42, Omron 2400 V.42, etc.) /Should also be able to connect to MNP 1-4 modems/ F = FastComm 9600 U = U.S. Robotics 9600 HST or Dual HST/V.32-MNP5 T = Telebit Trailblazer or Trailblazer Plus V3= (USR V.32-MNP5, Aiwa 9600 V.32-MNP4, Omron 9600 V.32-MNP5, etc.) VERIFICATION of systems: V = Verified B = Busy - = No answer ! = No answer; apparently closed. To be deleted in the next revision. # = New BBS or phone number TERMINAL PARAMETERS: All systems are 8-N-1 (i.e., 8 data bits, no parity bit, 1 stop bit), unless (7-E-1) is seen, then set up for 7 data bits and even parity. HOURS: All systems are on 24hrs/day, unless note mentions otherwise. W/D = Weekdays. W/E = Weekends (Saturday, Sunday & Local Holiday) W/N = Weekday Nights (approximately, 10:00pm to 7:00am) NOTES: - 7-bit NetMail was started by Tom Jenning's Fido BBS, using 7-bit data in the 8-bit frame. EchoMail is used to exchange bulk messages between two nodes. International NetMail started in January, 1990, on MCN and other Fido nodes, with Tokyo (Net 730) defined as part of Far East (Region 57) in Western Pacific (Zone 3) under the control of Sydney, Australia. 8-bit NetMail is exchanged in Taiwan and Japan only. - 8-bit NetMail is exchanged by the BBS's shown by Net xx/y of the above list, at 10:45-11:00pm. It transmits the full 8-bit information (double- byte Japanese JISCII characters as well as the 256 8-bit single-byte English ASCII characters) over NetMail, not just the 128 7-bit ASCII characters as in the Fido or Phoenix NetMail in U.S. The oversight of Phoenix 1.07 of treating ASCII code 227 (hexadecimal E3, Greek pi) as end-of-text character in the Message areas (which causes the double- byte Japanese characters to split into two single-byte characters in two lines) and masking/unmasking NetMail messages to pass only the 7-bit information in the 8-bit NetMail (which makes it impossible to send full 8-bit-based Japanese characters in NetMail) was corrected in August, 1988, by the so-called "E3 Patch" by Fumio Matsuura, Shinza City. Some extremist Sysops in Japan call FidoNet "intolerable" because it denies the freedom of speech in the languages written in the characters other than the American English alphabet (ASCII codes 1-128), in a way similar to how the young Mme. Marie Joliot-Curie was denied to speak her native Polish language under the Russian occupation of Poland, and because this situation is extremely harsh against the "double-byte" languages of Chinese, Japanese and Korean, which are expressed in two sequential characters in ASCII codes 129-256. But, a more accurate statement of this subject would be that the FidoNet and the FidoNet compatible people networks do have an inherent ability to handle this new requirement and that they should start allowing transmission of full 8-bit information. The 8-bit Chinese and Japanese message transmissions already started in Taiwan and Japan. The problem stated above was discussed by a group of Japanese Sysops with the attendees of the RBBS-PC Conference that was held in U.S. in October, 1988, in a well documented paper (BBSML3.ZIP - "Multi-lingual Requiremnts to the BBS Host Programs Made in U.S."). Unless we manage it carefully, it will become another explosive issue in the Japan-U.S.-Europe relationship of the 1990s because the Japanese networks will start throwing in 8-bit information to the 7-bit based networks in U.S., resulting in chaos everywhere. To foster international communication, the legend has been changed to the one similar to that of "THE ATLANTA BULLETIN BOARD LIST Revision #22" (Copyright (c) 1989 by OAS, Inc., a non-profit organization of the Atlanta area sysops). A warm welcome to Shuichi Fujita by OAS at their October, 1989, meeting was much appreciated. The Line Speed codes in the OAS list have been made more "generic" in this list and a few codes have been added. SOME TIPS ON BBSING IN JAPAN Your modem, say, from U.S., supporting Bell 212A at 1200bps and CCITT V.22bis at 2400bps, would technically work in Japan, because most BBS host modems here entertain all protocols: Bell 103/CCITT V.21 at 300bps, Bell 212A/CCITT V.22 at 1200bps and CCITT V.22bis at 2400bps. Legally, however, you must use in Japan, like in any other country of the world, a modem authorized by the industry-wide organizations of that country (JATE and VCCI), for compliance to the telecommunications, electro-magnetic interference and other laws. Yes, the U.S. Robotics 9600 HST modem has its own devotees here; the modems with MNP (Microcom Networking Protocol) are quite often used; and many Sysop are now deciding if the new V.42 (2400 bps, MNP4), V42bis (2400 bps, MNP5) and V.32(9600 bps) modems would give any benefits. Wall outlets for telephone attachment, hitherto mostly hard-wired, are quickly being converted to the U.S.-type "modular plugs" (RJ11), for easier attachment of the new, fancier, more expensive telephone sets or modems. (NTT's 3-prong telephone plugs never became popular.) Conversion kits to the modular plugs are sold at the local radio shops ("denki-ya" in Japanese) or large retail stores. We use 100 Volts/50 Hertz in eastern Japan (in Tokyo) and 100V/60Hz in western Japan (in Nagoya and Osaka), with the actual boundary being on the Fuji River that flows a little west of Mt. Fuji. This electric cycle difference should not bother you because no modern personal computer equipment is made sensitive to the electric cycle. (Electric shavers and refrigerators are sensitive.) The 240/120-to-100 stepdown transformers can be bought at the souvenir shops of the Tokyo City Air Terminal (TCAT) at Hakozaki-cho, or at the transformer shops of the Akihabara, Tokyo, and Edison Plaza, Yokohama, districts, for 3-6,000 yen. Choose the transformers with right wattage capacity: up to 20W for recharging the battery of your laptop, 50W for your AC-powered laptop or Japanese "word processors," and 400-1,000W for your personal computer systems. We use the U.S.-type 2-flat blade plugs on electric outlet on the wall. The third round earth pin is used on the plugs in business offices, but rarely usedon the wall outlets in the homes. 3-prong-to-2-prong converter plugs can be easily bought at the transformer shops if your machine is equipped with the 3-prong pw Fo information about the BBS's outside of the Greater Tokyo area, contact in Nagoya City FPUC BBS (Foreign PC User Club) 0563-57-0914 (Toshi Omi, Sysop; Net 70/1) and in the Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe area MacRadyo 06-765-9680, Aegis BBS 075-954-0118 or Kerry Reuter's BBS (Kansai IBM PC User Group) 0727-66-4410. They should be able to tell you of more BBS's in their respective areas. Aside from these BBS's, there are over 700 other BBS's in Japan which are operated in the Japanese language, according to the BBS Denwacho published quarterly by Dempa Shimbun-sha (Phone: 03-445-6111) and the BBS directory included in the "NETWORKER" magazine published quarterly by ASCII Corp., both available in the local bookstores. Their computer talks are mostly on NEC 9801 and its clone from Epson which are the dominant personal computers here in homes and in medium-sized and small businesses. Toshiba J3100/DynaBook, Apple Macintosh as used in the Japanese mode, Fujitsu (FMR and TOWNS), IBM (5550, PS/55 and JX) and AX machines from various companies are also often discussed. The Japanese characters on your IBM PC would look like full of the special characters in positions 129-256 of the 8-bit 256-character ASCII code table.Commercial networks with many access points all over Japan, some of them in special relationship to the U.S.-based networks, are also available. Contact: ASCII Net (ASCII 03-486-9661; tied to DELPHI), PC-VAN (NEC 03-454-6909 ; tied to GEnie), NIFTY-Serve (NIF 03-221-7363; tied to CompuServe), The Space Club (Space Communications 03-971-8111), JALNET (Japan Air Lines 03-456-7293), TeleStar (TeleStar 03-357-3800), EYE-NET (Fujimic 03-357-1738), J&P HOTLINE (Joshin Denki 06-632-2521), MasterNet (MasterNet 03-305-3511), Nikkei MIX (Nikkei MIX 03-380-6011; tied to BIX), etc. TWICS BeeLINE (contact Jeffrey Shapard at 03-351-5977 voice) is operated by a non-profit organization with interest to foster international people communication, using PARTIcipate conferencing system. (TWICS offers connection to other networks, such as MCI Mail and Internet, through DASNET in California.) Contact Comnex 03-260-7711 for easier access to DELPHI in U.S. and Chollian in Korea. Digital network services: DDX-TP (NTT 0120-169163), TYMPAS (NIS 03-262-8844; also connected to TYMNET in U.S. and U.K. ), Tri-P (Intec 0120-03-3317; also connected to Telenet in U.S. and U.K), VENUS-P (KDD 03-275-4311) and services by most large telecommunications/computer companies in Japan (NEC C&C-VAN, Fujitsu FENICS, IBM NMS/Information Network, etc.). Electronic business mail services: WorldMail (called "MCI Mail" in U.S., contact NCL Communication 03-851-9705 or NI+C International 03-221-8010), etc. Because of Lotus Express program which provides easy, economical on-line naviagation, MCI Mail is oftenused here in Japan, too. Please let the author know about EasyLink, DialComm and other electronic mail services that may be offered here. Examples of the access points of these nationwide networks are: CompuServe/NIF: 1200, 03-730-4944, 044-752-5691, 045-313-3718 GEnie/C&C-VAN: 1200, 03-452-0034 (.A3212024,LOGON,GENIE), 045-664-4824 (.A4512009,LOGON,GENIE), 0468-26-0929 (.A4512009,LOGON,GENIE) Tri-P: 1200/2400, 03-5371-4295, 045-321-6290 TWICS: 1200/2400MNP5, 03-351-8244/7905; DDX-TP 1200, 163-060-361-2065; TYMPAS 524 TYMPAS: 1200, 03-555-9562; 2400, 03-555-9696; 1200/2400, 045-453-7637 VENUS-P: 1200, 03-343-1201, 003612; 2400, 03-342-2400, 003613; 2400MNP, 03-340-2400 (domestic tolls are included in overseas charges) When calling Japan from overseas directly over the telephone network, set your modem with ATS7=60 to allow the modem to wait 60 seconds after dialing for carrier detect. Otherwise, your Hayes compatible modem at default setting will disconnect after 30 seconds and display a "No Carrier" message, leaving not enough time for your modem to detect the carrier signal being transmitted across the Pacific Ocean over the satellite link from the BBS host modem in Japan."PC-Pursuit" and "Starlink" are the services offered in U.S. by Telenet, a U.S. Sprint subsidiary, and by TYMNET, a British Telecom subsidiary, respectively, allowing the Telenet/TYMNET users to call in a local Telenet/TYMNET port and to "remotely" dial up any BBS in the region where such services are offered. If you are traveling in Japan and want to use PC-Pursuit, use the Telenet ports in Japan such as 03-794-6381 in Tokyo or 06-365-9188 in Osaka (1200/2400/MNP5) or contact Telenet Japan, Inc. (Tomoko Furukawa, 03-794-6602). For Starlink, call the TYMPAS numbers listed above. A service similar to PC-Pursuit/Starlink is offered as TYMPAS 777 service by NIS, a TYMNET affiliate in Japan. As a user, you can call anyone of the TYMPAS ports in Japan, key in I at the terminal identifier: prompt and USER-ID; 777;PASSWORD at the please log in: prompt and continue to select from the menus till you reach, for example, B&B Shimokitazawa. You can call B&B Shimokitazawa through TYMNET ports overseas, such as 312-922-6571 in Chicago, 213-578-7514 in L.A., 212-809-9660 in N.Y.C., 3-735-3623 in Hong Kong, 2-906-3473 in Sydney, 3-820-9088 in Melbourne, etc. You would need to key in O at the terminal identifier prompt, NISJPN at the please log in: prompt, and USER-ID:777; PASSWORD at the second please log in: prompt. Travelling other countries in Asia, you will find the countries like Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand where telecommunications is still under the governments' tight control and you must first get a local company's service, such as, in Taiwan, PACNET from DataCommunications Institute (886-2-344-3117) or UDAS from International Telecom- munications Administration (886-2-344-3770), and then pass through to TYMPAS by specifying the DTE address of 44082100010. Continuing to use TYMPAS as an example, you can call CompuServe from a TYMPAS port in Japan. Set your term program to 7-E-1 and type A for the terminal identifier and USER-ID;3106001133;PASSWORD for TYMPAS service, and then the regular CIS/user-id/password sequence for CompuServe. CompuServe, of course, can be accessed in a variety of ways, such as via NIFTY-Serve or Venus-P. Yes, TAPCIS (a shareware program) for IBMPC and Navigator (a commercial program) for Macintosh are used frequently here too, for easier on-line navigation on CompuServe. If your are a UNIX or AIX fan and would rather talk about System V, 4.3BSD, Mach, uucp or OSF/1, rather than the MS-DOS based subjects, my recommendation for you is to write to: Yoh Hitomi, juice administration offce c/o J.M.A. Systems Co., Ltd., Nihon Seimei Minami-Azabu Bldg. 8-12, Minami-Azabu 2-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106 juice (Japan Un*x I* Communication Environment) is a volunteer-operated, UNIX-based, personal communications network in Japan with approximately 30 sites. You'll meet there the nice people like Norihiro Mita, the UNIX guru. It is connected through a gateway to JUNET, a Japanese network of about 300 sites including major universities and corporations, and through another gate way to USENET in U.S. If your interest by the way is in the academic world, regardless of MS-DOS or UNIX, there are BITNET nodes in Japan, too. The contact point of BITNET here is Tokyo Science University (Tokyo Rika Daigaku). The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications's consultative committee recommeded in March 1990 to split the giant NTT corporation in 1995 into three entities: the local access, long distance and mobile communications companies. (The further split of the local access company, as in the case of AT&T in U.S., was not in the recommendation.) While the Ministry of Finance (which still holds the majority of NTT's shares) insists on a delay of the split decision till 1995 because of the recent nosedive of the NTT share price and the national debate continues, NTT itself is in the midst of their ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) implementation. Their INS (Information Network Service) Net 64 provides two 64K bps data channels and one 16K bps control signal channel (2B+D) on the existing copper wire and started in the capital cities of Japan's 48 prefectures in 1988. INS Net 1500 use optical fibers to serve 23B+D channels since 1989 and, if legally allowed, can provide movie channels etc. that are now typically served by the cable networks or satellite broadcasts. As of March 1990, there are 200 cities in Japan that are served by both INS Net 64 and Net 1500. By March, 1991, this number will grow to 940, which means all major cities with population of 100,000. Since my Fujisawa City is as of December 1989 serviced by INS Net 64, I could convert one of my two phone lines to ISDN by paying a little over 10,000 yen (or a new line for paying 72,000 yen) and get Net 64 service for the monthly basic fee of 4,600 yen, equivalent to two tone-dialing lines. (I am told by the local NTT office that I must, however, wait approximately six months to obtain a DSU from NTT that is required for ISDN connection. Is it why Carla Hills, the U.S. trade negotiator, has recently added the DSUs in her list of items for the Japan-U.S. trade discussions?) NIFTY-Serve since 1988 has demonstrated ISDN connection, although formal service never materialized. Should I switch to ISDN? Will ISDN offer a solution to this country where the long distance rates are believed to be three times as expensive as in U.S.? We'll see! Alternatives to NTT's long distance service are available since 1988. Call for further information the "free dial" (toll free) numbers: 0120-11-0077 for DDI (Daini Denden, Inc.; microwave towers), 0120-0088-82 for Japan Telecom (Nihon Telecom; optical fibers along JR railroad tracks) and 0120-03-0077 for Teleway (Nihon Kosoku Tsushin; optical fibers along expressways). Their service areas are now limited to the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka-Sendai corridor, but their chargesare 20-30 percent less expensive and service areas expanding. Prior registra- tion by mail is required. My experience with JT shows their lines a lot less susceptible to noise, not requiring me to use MNP error correction. KDD (Kokusai Denshin Denwa or "International Telegraph and Telephone") has long had monopoly on Japan's overseas telecommunications. Alternatives to KDD's overseas service began in October, 1989: instead of KDD's 001- overseas prefix, use 0041- through ITJ (contact 0120-44-0041 for more information) or 0061- through IDC (0120-03-0061). Service countries are in December 1989 limited to U.S., Hong Kong and U.K., but being expanded month by month. Their services do not require prior registration, and so can be used immediately. The non-Japanese speaking people have made a great contribution to the BBS movement in Japan in its short history. Japan's first BBS was run by Steve Bellamy at a small store in the Sanno Hotel, downtown Tokyo, with his Apple computer (was it in 1983?). His Kanto Central BBS later at 0473-79-0098, now out of service, became in 1986-87 the largest personal computer-based BBS in Japan and also made a big influence to the near-by BBS's such as MacEvent Network. Asia Pacific BBS at 03-436-2180, sometimes erroneously called APG BBS, now also out of service, ran on IBMPC/XT and RBBS-PC with Stovy Brown as Sysop, and in 1986-88 boasted one of the best collections of public domain software. Tokyo PC's superb, first generation BBS 03-374-2774 was operated1986-88 on RBBS-PC by "The Rabbi" (Alan Duboff). When he left in January 1987, a multi-node on-line farewell party, the first of this kind, was held for The Rabbi and his newly-wed wife Satoko, who watched with their lap-top at their hotel in Tokyo the farewell speeches from Stephen Campbell, then TPC President, in Tokyo PC, Ed Bracha on INN, and others on the other BBS's in the Greater Tokyo area. In March 1990, Ray Penas started open test on his "first made-in- Japan" bilingual BBS host program, VBBS. FURTHER CONTACT ABOUT THIS LIST This list is available in Japan at the above BBS's, in U.S. at The OASis BBS, Decatur, GA, 404-288-0547, the contact BBS of the Online Atlanta Society, and in other countries of the world. Contact by BBS: Sysop, Big Blue Skies BBS 0466-24-6090 (or from U.S. 011-81-466-24-6090) Contact by mail: Yoshi Mikami 8-6, Kataseyama 4-chome Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa-ken 251 Japan(The author of this edition of the Greater Tokyo International BBS List is looking for persons who can continue to update it on a quarterly basis.) End of BBSTOK5.DOC File Press RETURN to continue: .