OSAKA -- The idea came up when Makoto Kawade was playing computer games late at night and eating snacks as usual. To Kawade, 27, most Internet users -- including himself -- seemed to be doing something like typing away gossip on a bulletin board service or just surfing various Web sites.
"So I came to think that if Web users can donate even a little amount of money for volunteer work, the image of the Internet and its users would be improved. Besides, the number of Net users is booming so I thought there was a good deal of potential donors on Web sites," he said.
In cooperation with the Osaka NPO Center, Kawade started up an Internet service provider system in which users can automatically donate a certain percentage of their connecting fees to nonprofit organizations.