More and more Japanese are using the Internet, with the number reaching about 17 million, or 13.4 percent of the population, in fiscal 1998, according to the 1999 White Paper on Communications in Japan released Friday.

The rapid growth of the Internet, which is now accessed by more than 10 percent of the nation's households, comes just five years after commercial Internet services were launched in Japan.

In contrast, it took 13 years for personal computers, 15 years for mobile and car phones and 76 years for telephones to spread to the same extent.