Last update: 3/2000

One of the most frequent asked questions (FAQ) in this group has been:
"Does anybody know the e-mail address to xxx in Japan?"

While there's no foolproof way, oftentimes you can guess an email address
from the recipient's affiliation. The translation from affiliation to
email domain can be made with the help of the standard list of active
domains in Japan.  As an example, to contact someone at Akita University,
you might try

         loginname@akita-u.ac.jp

where "loginname" is something reasonable like the person's last name,
their first initial followed by last name, etc.  If that doesn't work
and you know the person is in, say, the CS department, you might try
  
         loginname@cs.akita-u.ac.jp
 
A list of active domains is also available for anonymous FTP from
<ftp://ftp.cs.arizona.edu/japan/email.domains>. THIS CAN
BE VERY USEFUL if you're trying to guess at an address.

Another service you may want to try out is Netfind. Netfind tries to
locate a host and login name based on the name and the location of the
person. Telnet to bruno.cs.colorado.edu, login as netfind, and follow
the directions.

While there aren't all that many posters from Japan, if you find a poster
at a probable site, you may want to email the person and ask for help. Of
course, this may or may not bring about anything.

If all else fails, sending a query to the loginname "postmaster" at
that site will usually elicit a response. Do not abuse this option,
as postmasters tend to be very overworked sysadmins.

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