Living Nippon is an independent website that publishes practical guides for people living in Japan. This page explains what data the site collects, who else receives it, and how you can limit it. It also states plainly how the site makes money, because that affects how you should read what we write.
How this site is funded
Living Nippon carries advertising and affiliate links. If you click certain links and later sign a contract or make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the company involved. You never pay more because of this.
Two things follow from that, and we would rather say them than have you discover them:
- Articles that contain affiliate links are marked with an advertising label at the top of the page. There is no hidden placement.
- A commission gives us an interest in you clicking. We try to counter that by publishing the drawbacks, the age and area limits, and the cases where a product does not suit you. Read our recommendations knowing the incentive exists.
We do not accept payment to remove criticism, and no advertiser reviews our articles before publication.
What data is collected
The site does not ask you to create an account, and we do not run a mailing list. In normal use we never see your name, address or contact details.
What is collected automatically:
- Server access logs — IP address, browser and operating system, the page requested, the referring page, and the time of the request. These are generated by the hosting server and are used for security and troubleshooting.
- Cookies and similar identifiers — small files stored by your browser, used by the analytics and advertising services described below.
If you contact us through the enquiry form, we receive whatever you choose to write in it, including any contact address you supply. That information is used only to reply to you.
Google Analytics
This site uses Google Analytics, provided by Google LLC, to understand which pages are read and how visitors arrive. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect usage data. The data is collected anonymously and is not used to identify you personally.
You can opt out entirely by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. Google's own explanation of how it handles data in its services is published at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Advertising
Google AdSense
This site displays advertising through Google AdSense. Google and its partners use cookies to serve ads based on your previous visits to this and other websites. You can turn off personalised advertising in Google Ads Settings. Turning it off does not remove advertising; it makes the advertising less specific to you.
Affiliate programmes
This site participates in affiliate programmes operated by A8.net (Fan Communications, Inc.) and may participate in others. When you click an affiliate link, the programme operator sets a cookie so that a later contract can be attributed to this site. That cookie records the click, not your identity, and we never see who clicked what.
Turning cookies off
Every major browser lets you block or delete cookies in its settings, either for all sites or for this one. Blocking cookies stops the analytics and advertising measurement described above. Nothing on this site requires cookies to read, so the articles will work normally with cookies disabled.
Who else receives your data
We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with third parties except in the ways described on this page — that is, through the analytics and advertising services listed above, which collect it directly through your browser. We would disclose data if a court or a competent authority legally required it, and we would say so unless prohibited.
Links to other sites
This site links to external sites, including advertisers, government pages and service providers. Once you follow a link, you are on someone else's site under someone else's privacy policy. We are not responsible for how those sites handle your data, and we suggest checking their policies where it matters to you.
About the information published here
We write carefully and check figures against primary sources, but rents, fees, laws and company terms change, and conditions differ by property, area and applicant. Nothing here is legal, financial or immigration advice. Always confirm the current terms with the company or authority involved before you sign anything or pay anything.
We are not liable for losses arising from the use of information on this site. If you find something wrong or out of date, please tell us through the enquiry form — we would rather correct it than defend it.
Copyright
The text, tables and images on this site are the property of Living Nippon unless otherwise credited. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Reproducing whole articles, or substantial parts of them, without permission is not.
Changes to this policy
We may update this page as the site changes. The current version always applies, and the date of the last revision is shown at the foot of this page.
Contact
For questions about this policy, corrections to an article, or requests concerning your data, please use the enquiry form:
Site name: Living Nippon
Last updated: 16 August 2026