Japan Onsen Guide (“the Site”) is a static information website that handles as little personal data as possible. This policy explains what information we process, for what purposes and for how long, and what rights you have. By using the Site you agree to this policy.
1. Operator and scope
This policy applies to https://japan-onsen-guide.com and all pages beneath it (Japanese, Korean, English and Chinese editions). The operator’s contact details appear on the Contact page and at the end of this policy.
External sites we link to (hotel booking sites, official facility sites, map services, etc.) are governed by their own privacy policies and fall outside the scope of this one.
2. What we collect — and what we don’t
The Site has no accounts, log-in, comments or surveys, and never asks you to enter directly identifying data such as your name, e-mail address, phone number or payment details.
If you e-mail us: we receive your sender address, your name if you include it, and the content of your message, and use them solely to reply.
Technical data processed automatically: our hosting provider’s servers may record standard access logs — IP address, time of access, requested URL, browser type (User-Agent) and referrer. These are used only for security, incident response and aggregate traffic statistics.
3. Browser storage (localStorage) and cookies
To remember your dark/light-mode preference and the language you last chose, the Site stores two values, “theme” and “lang”, in your browser’s localStorage. They stay on your device and are never sent to a server.
The Site itself sets no tracking cookies. Clearing site data in your browser resets these preferences.
For cookies set by advertising and affiliate partners, see sections 4 and 5.
4. Affiliate links
Some accommodation and ticket buttons are affiliate links to Trip.com. Clicking one takes you to that partner’s site, which may set cookies to attribute your visit. We never receive your name, booking details or other personal data — only anonymised aggregates (clicks, completed bookings, commission).
Our labelling rules for affiliate links are described on the Affiliate Disclosure page.
5. Advertising
The Site may display Google AdSense advertisements. Google and third-party vendors use cookies (including the DoubleClick cookie) to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites.
You can opt out of personalised advertising in Google Ads Settings (https://adssettings.google.com) and block third-party cookies in your browser. Residents of the EU, UK and Switzerland are offered a consent mechanism as required by applicable law.
6. Traffic statistics
We review privacy-preserving, non-identifying traffic statistics (page views, country, browser type, etc.) provided by our hosting provider, Cloudflare. We do not use analytics tools that identify individual users. Should we introduce one in future, this policy will be updated first.
7. Purposes of processing
(1) Answering enquiries and correcting errors; (2) keeping the Site stable and secure; (3) improving content based on aggregate statistics; (4) verifying affiliate-programme results. We use your data for no other purpose.
8. Third parties and international transfers
We do not sell or disclose your data to third parties except where required by law.
The Site is delivered through Cloudflare’s global network (Cloudflare, Inc., USA). Technical data such as access logs may therefore be processed on servers outside your country. Cloudflare complies with major data-protection regimes including the GDPR.
9. Retention
Enquiry e-mails: kept for up to one year after the reply is sent (to track corrections), then deleted — or deleted immediately on request.
Access logs: retained briefly in accordance with the hosting provider’s policy, then deleted automatically.
10. Your rights
You may at any time request access to, correction or deletion of, or restriction of processing of your data. Send your request to the address below; we normally respond within seven days.
Residents of the EU/EEA may exercise their GDPR rights (objection, portability, complaint to a supervisory authority, etc.); users in Japan their rights under the Act on the Protection of Personal Information; users in Korea their rights under the Personal Information Protection Act; and California residents their rights under the CCPA/CPRA.
11. Children
The Site is not directed at children under 14 and does not knowingly collect their personal data. If we learn that we have done so, we will delete it promptly.
12. Security
Every page is served over HTTPS, and the Site stores no user data in any server-side database, which minimises risk by design. The enquiry mailbox is managed only from an access-restricted account.
13. Changes to this policy
We may revise this policy when laws or the service change. Material changes are announced by updating the revision date at the top of this page; the revised policy takes effect on publication.
14. Contact
Privacy enquiries and rights requests: [email protected] (please put “Privacy” in the subject line for priority handling).
Last revised: 2026-09-25