One IDNF member asked me to translate the latest JPRS report about .日本. You can see my rough translation below.
http://jprs.co.jp/topics/2010/101012.html
Japan Internet Domain Name Council (jidnc.jp) selected JPRS as a registry of choice for .nippon and reported as such to the relevant government ministry.
From now on, the following process needs to take place before JPRS can get approved by ICANN to be the registry.
1. Japanese government endorses the choice of JIDNC
2. ICANN examines if .日本 (.nippon) is appropriate as a tld string.
3. ICANN examines if JPRS is an appropriate institution to become a registry of .nippon.
Then at last, JPRS affirms their vision of providing .nippon as an additional service to the current .jp registrants.