Considered an Internet evangelist, he was key to the early commercial development of the Internet in the region and helped establish several important industry groups that continue to influence the Internet today.
After graduating from Tohoku University in 1964, Toru Takahashi spent nearly two decades as an editor and writer before joining the Laboratory of Innovation for Quality of Life (LIQOL), a think tank overseeing VideoTex marketing. In 1986, he joined Digital Computer Limited where he managed a UNIX workstation and incubation of high-speed LAN using PROTEON routers. In 1988, he visited the National Science Foundation to see fellow inductee Stephen Wolff, and began to learn about the Internet.
From that moment on he worked tirelessly to bring the Internet to Japan. In addition to evangelizing the Internet and its commercial benefits, he founded and was involved in several organizations instrumental to the Internet’s growth there. He wrote one of the first books in Japanese about the Internet. He was a member of the Japan UNIX Society and the Internet Association of Japan, and an organizer of INTEROP Tokyo. In addition, he was the Chairman of the APNIC, the regional Internet address registry for the Asia Pacific region.
Learn more about Toru Takahashi in Wired’s original 2012 profile on his historic contributions to the Internet’s development and growth.
