When a friend asked me yesterday, "David, why haven't I seen any of your stories in the Mainichi Weekly recently? Have you stopped writing?" I replied that on the contrary, I have been very busy writing recently. But rather than creating stories for the Weekly, I have been working on an Internet 'home page'.

Have you had any experience of the Internet yet? This linked web of materials now seems to cover every possible aspect of human experience, accomplishment, and adventure. Practically every person or organization on this planet doing something interesting now has a website introducing their ideas - freely available and open to anyone who cares to investigate it. And it is not just a matter of sitting back and reading or viewing the information; one can become an active participant by setting up one's own source of information - an Internet home page.

The first step in creating one's own site on the World Wide Web is to plan carefully what the content is to be - for me of course it was mostly my woodblock prints and essays. Next, one must get the material into the computer - in my case the essays and stories were already on the computer, but the prints had to be put on a scanner. The third step is to arrange everything in a proper form to be displayed on the Internet. Up until a year or so ago this step was difficult; you had to learn how to use a complicated programming language. But new software has simplified the job a lot, and now anyone who can operate a computer word processor can easily create an attractive web site without having to learn programming. Once this preparation is done, you must make an arrangement to have your material stored with an Internet Service Provider. Once it is stored there, people from all over the world will be able to see your work.

Is it expensive to have your own Internet home page? Not really. Here's a rough breakdown of what mine has cost:

• Computer (three-year old used Macintosh model): 50,000
• Scanner (Microtek E3): 15,000
• Software (Claris Home Page 2.0) : 8,900
• Internet Service Provider: Registration Fee 4,500 / Monthly Fee: 1,900
• Various books and magazines (my teachers!): 15,000

My home page has been 'up and running' for only a short time, but already I'm receiving a lot of email from people who have visited it. Comments have come from Canada, America, Sweden, England, and of course from here in Japan (my site is bilingual). None of these people would have been able to see my work if I hadn't gone onto the Internet.

So how about you? Do you have something you have created - stories, photographs, paintings, music? Why not think about making your own home page to share them with us - to share them with the whole world! I hope to see you soon out on the 'net!