I am thrilled that Mozilla Japan has been launched. Mozilla Japan reflects the vibrancy of the Mozilla-gumi volunteer community that has been active since the early days of the Mozilla project. Several of the Mozilla-Gumi folks are involved with Mozilla Japan so we have a bridge between the project to date and the work of Mozilla Japan. Mozilla Japan also has some new and active participants. Nobua Kita, CEO of Ten Art-ni Corporation is active in open source matters in Japan in general, and has provided invaluable leadership in the formation and vitality of the new organization.
Mozilla Japan is the second International Affiliate of the Mozilla Foundation; the first was Mozilla-Europe. International Affiliates are independent legal organizations, preferably with nonprofit status. They are not subsidiaries of the Mozilla Foundation. Each Affiliate is run by an independent Board of Directors. The Mozilla Foundation needs to agree on the directors and the scope of activities before we allow the Mozilla name to be used; once this is done we look to the Affiliate to provide leadership for the Mozilla project in their geographical areas.
Mozilla Europe and Mozilla Japan came into being because Tristan and Peter in Europe and the Steering Committee in Japan (Nobuo Kita, Katsuhiko Momoi, Satoko TakitaYamaguchi and Motohiro Egota) were determined to see something happen. Actually Tristan and Peter came to us early in the life of the Foundation with their plans. It was a frantic time and figuring out how to make an Affiliate program was not at the top of my list. It became the top of my list because Peter and Tristan made it so, because their determination to give the Mozilla project a real voice in Europe was unstoppable.
The Mozilla project is successful because of the enormous energy people bring, the ways to contribute people dream up and the drive and leadership they provide. Welcome Mozilla-Japan!