Privacy Policy

Who we are

The Best Japan is an editorial travel website focused on Japan—destinations, culture, food, planning, and inspiration for visitors and residents. The site is published at https://thebestjapan.com.

What information we collect

Depending on how you use the site, we may collect:

• Information you provide — for example, if you submit a comment, contact form, newsletter signup, or similar fields, we receive what you enter (such as name, email, or message content).
• Technical and usage data — such as IP address, approximate location (derived from IP), browser type, device type, operating system, referring URLs, pages and content viewed, and dates and times of visits. This helps us run the site, understand readership, and improve our guides and layout.

Comments

If we allow comments, when you leave a comment we collect the data shown in the comment form, and we may collect your IP address and browser user agent string to help detect spam and abuse.

If we use Gravatar or a similar service, an anonymized hash derived from your email address may be sent to that service to display an avatar if you use one. Automattic’s privacy policy applies to Gravatar. After a comment is approved, your avatar may appear publicly next to your comment.

Images and uploads

If you upload images to the website (for example, with a comment or submission), avoid uploading files that include embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors may be able to download images and extract that location data from them.

Cookies and similar technologies

We and our partners use cookies and similar technologies to recognize your browser, remember preferences, measure traffic, understand what readers find useful, and—where applicable—serve or measure advertising. This may include session cookies (which expire when you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which remain for a set period).

For example:

• If you leave a comment, you may opt in to saving your name, email, and website in cookies so you do not have to re-enter them on your next comment. Those convenience cookies may last about one year.
• If we offer accounts and you log in, we may set cookies to keep you signed in, remember display preferences, and maintain session security. Login-related cookies may last about two days; display options may last about a year. If you choose “Remember me,” your login may persist for about two weeks. Logging out removes login cookies from your browser.
• Analytics — we or vendors processing data on our behalf (for example, Google Analytics) may use cookies to measure performance, audiences, and how people move through the site so we can improve content and design.
• Consent tools — where we use a consent banner or preference center, cookies may store your choices about optional cookies and share those preferences with us.

Through essential and analytics-related technologies, we may collect or derive identifiers such as a device or cookie ID, IP address, browser and OS type, referring URLs, actions on our pages, and general region and language settings.

Advertising and affiliate links

Like many independent travel publishers, we may show ads and use affiliate links—for example when we recommend hotels, tours, rail passes, gear, or booking services. Ad partners (such as ad networks and technology vendors) and affiliate partners may use cookies or similar technologies to measure views and clicks, personalize or limit how often you see ads, and attribute purchases or bookings.

• Third-party vendors, including Google, may use cookies to serve ads based on your visits to this site or others.
• You can opt out of personalized ads from Google via Google Ads Settings. For broader opt-out options for interest-based ads from participating companies, see aboutads.info.

Ad and affiliate partners process information under their own policies. We do not control their practices; please read their privacy notices to understand how they use data. We may earn a commission when you purchase through affiliate links at no extra cost to you; that helps support our editorial work on Japan travel.

Embedded content from other sites

Articles may embed videos, maps, social posts, or other content from third-party sites. Those providers behave as if you visited their site: they may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional trackers, and monitor how you interact with their content, including if you are logged in on their service.

How long we keep information

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata may be kept so we can recognize follow-up comments and moderate discussion instead of holding every reply in a queue.

If we offer accounts, we store the personal information you add to your profile. Users can usually view, edit, or delete that information; usernames may be fixed. Administrators may access that information to operate the site and comply with law.

Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or export personal data we hold about you, or to object to or restrict certain processing. If you have an account or have left comments, you may ask for a copy of your data or request deletion. We may need to keep some information where required for legal, security, or accounting reasons.

Automated decisions

Visitor comments may be screened by automated spam-detection services before they appear on the site.

Children

Our content is for a general audience. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the minimum age required in your country). If you believe we have done so, please contact us and we will take appropriate steps.

Changes to this policy

We may update this page from time to time. The revised version will apply once posted here, with an updated effective date when we make material changes.

Contact us

Questions about this privacy policy or your information? Use the contact options linked from our website (for example, “Get in Touch” or similar), and we will do our best to respond promptly.