In May 1999, Hiroyuki Nishimura started up a modest discussion board called Ni Chaneru -- Channel 2.  The site gave many Japanese an anonymous way to vent their feelings, meet strangers, lurk and connect.

Channel 2 quickly became a quirky place where people sometimes came to post rants before committing crimes and where people contemplating suicide came to meet others feeling the same way -- and to arrange group suicides.

In 2001, Time Asia wrote of the site, "Surfing through Channel 2 is like taking a ride on Japan's wild side. On any given day you can read messages about users' schemes to assault their bosses, murder their teachers or blow up a neighborhood kindergarten."

More than a million people post comments on Channel 2 every day, and the site gets 600 million page views a month. Channel 2 is Japan's biggest and most popular Web site.

"There is a lot of interesting news that the mass media won't pick up." --Channel 2 creator Hiroyuki Nishimura

Q: Why do you think your Web site has become so big?

A: I think it is because there has been a need to deliver interesting news as well as a need to know the news. I didn't create those needs myself. There had been a popular Web site, even before I created Channel 2, where people could write anonymously. But the huge, increasing number of users forced the site to be closed, because the site couldn't respond to them.

In that sense, I had an advantage because I could increase the size of servers according to the increasing demands for access. I anticipated from the beginning that the Web site would be popular, but to be honest, I never imagined it would grow so quickly. I was secretly aware that I was making a new medium, since a new medium is born where many people gather.

Q: Why did you decide to use perfect anonymity, not even requiring a user name?

A: Because delivering news without taking any risk is very important to us. There is a lot of information disclosure or secret news gathered on Channel 2. Few people would post that kind of information by taking a risk. Moreover, people can only truly discuss something when they don't know each other.

If there is a user ID attached to a user, a discussion tends to become a criticizing game. On the other hand, under the anonymous system, even though your opinion/information is criticized, you don't know with whom to be upset. Also with a user ID, those who participate in the site for a long time tend to have authority, and it becomes difficult for a user to disagree with them. Under a perfectly anonymous system, you can say, "it's boring," if it is actually boring. All information is treated equally; only an accurate argument will work.

Q: We don't see many other Web sites as large as yours worldwide.

A: I think it is related to the Japanese sense of homogeneity and to our mentality of all being in the middle class. For instance, in the United States, people wouldn't argue with someone they don't know. Japanese don't feel awkward even if they don't know others' status or background.

Q: What do you think of Channel 2's influence on journalism?

A: We once could only get information through mass media filters, such as newspaper companies or TV stations. We could send a letter with some kind of information disclosure to a newspaper, but whether they would pick it up in the papers depended on the editor's decisions. It can be said that only the information convenient to the media was reported.

However, there is a lot of interesting news that the mass media won't pick up. Let's say there is a person who wants to tell certain information, and then he posts it on Channel 2. If the news is really interesting, there should be people who are intrigued by it, then they will respond to it, getting more attention. It's the users who decide the value of the news on Channel 2.

There have been quite a few stories that the mass media picked up (from Channel 2) that became big stories. At the same time, Channel 2 has a role as an ombudsman, investigating mass media's reports. For example, some people objected to touching stories that TV stations reported, like "a female high school student started a social welfare business as a CEO," and "a brain-damaged boy developed an unusual talent, publishing books and poetry." They proved that mass media could make a mistake.

Q: Don't you get lots of inaccurate information?

A: Even if you wrote something likely, people can tell a lie from truth. Someone always asks, "What's the source?" to certain information, demanding objective evidence. So news without a source or doubtful information couldn't get attention or spread widely on Channel 2. For a Channel 2 user, it is necessary to have an eye for separating a lie from truth.

Q: What do you think about opinions that would violate people's privacy or libelous opinions?

A: Writing without taking a risk could go in the wrong direction. We have about 150 volunteers who work deleting information, based on our deleting guidelines. But just like crime will never disappear from the society, it is virtually impossible to eliminate privacy invasion. Under the Japanese law, it is not considered a crime if someone posts another's phone number, but I think that is ridiculous. I think there is nothing I can do; we need a new legal regulation.

Q: What do you think of young Japanese people gathering together via Channel 2 and committing suicide?

A: I don't think the number of suicides has increased because of Channel 2's existence. It is because suicidal people started consulting with each other. While there are some people who criticize the site's existence, I think it is important to have a community where suicidal people can talk with each other about the circumstances they face and the concerns they have. At least they can't kill themselves while typing on a keyboard. I believe human contact is a big element of preventing suicides.

Q: How do you operate Channel 2?

A: Channel 2 is my personal Web site. But because we need to have contracts with companies, I launched a corporation, called "Tokyo Plus." At present, we rent 40 servers in California for $20,000 a month. We fund our site with advertising fees from companies on the site. In addition, we have a free provider service for members and publish the magazine "Channel 2 Plus," both of which are small businesses. And we have about 250 staffers who are working voluntarily.

Hideki Furukawa is a staff writer of the Yomiuri Shimbun multimedia news division and the editor of the Yomiuri Online in Tokyo. He began his career as a journalist in 1986. He started out covering local news in Yokohama and Sapporo, and has been covering the Internet and technology since 1995.