Privacy and Cookie Policy

This policy explains what happens to information when you read Misty River Valley, an independent blog about riverside landscapes and garden conditions in Japan. The blog is small and simple. It has no accounts, no comment boxes, no newsletter sign-up and no online shop, so there is very little to collect. We would still rather tell you exactly what there is than leave you to guess.

Who is responsible for this site

Misty River Valley is operated by the editors of the blog. You can reach us by email at info@mistyrivervalley.com or by telephone on +81 88-429-1740, and our postal address is 2-19-8 Terashimahoncho-nishi, Tokushima, Tokushima 770-0831, Japan. Where this policy says "we", it means the people who write and maintain the blog. Because we handle personal information only in the small ways described below, we follow the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI) of Japan in the way a small publisher would.

What this site does not do

We do not run analytics. The pages contain no Google Analytics, no tag manager, no advertising pixel, no social media buttons that report your visit, and no tool that records your clicks or scrolling. We do not build profiles of readers, we do not sell or rent information about visitors, and we do not show advertising on the blog. If that ever changes, this page will be updated before the change goes live, and the cookie notice will be changed to ask for your consent first.

The cookie we set

When you open the site for the first time, a short notice appears at the bottom of the page. If you close it, the notice script stores one small cookie named cookiesDirective in your browser, so that the notice does not return on every page. It contains no name, no identifier and no browsing history, and it is not read by any advertising or analytics service. It stays on your device until it expires or you delete it. Because it is needed only to remember that you have seen the notice, the site works the same whether you keep it or not.

You can remove this cookie at any time in your browser settings, or you can set your browser to refuse cookies. The only effect is that the notice will appear again the next time you visit. No other cookie is set by the pages of this blog.

Content loaded from other companies

Two parts of the site are loaded from Google, which means your browser contacts Google's servers when those parts are displayed. First, the typeface IBM Plex Sans is delivered by Google Fonts. Second, the map in the contacts section at the bottom of each page is an embedded Google Map showing our postal address. When these requests are made, Google receives technical information that every web request carries, such as your IP address, the time of the request and your browser type, and Google may set its own cookies when the map is displayed. We do not control that processing. Google LLC is based in the United States, so this information can be transferred outside Japan. You can read Google's own privacy policy on its website, and you can avoid the map request by not scrolling to the contacts section or by blocking third-party content in your browser.

When you contact us

The blog has no contact form. If you write to us, we receive your email address, the name you choose to give, and whatever you put in the message. If you telephone, we may note your number and the reason for the call. We use this only to read your message, to answer it, and to correct an article if you point out a mistake. We do not add you to any mailing list. Your mail provider and ours also process the message as part of ordinary email delivery.

Server logs

Like most websites, the server that delivers these pages may keep routine access logs that record the address of the requested page, the date and time, and the visitor's IP address and browser type. These logs are kept by the hosting provider for security and for fixing faults. We do not combine them with any other information, and we do not use them to identify individual readers.

Why we use information, and for how long

We use the little information described above for four purposes only: to display the pages correctly, to remember that you closed the notice, to keep the site secure, and to answer people who write to us. Correspondence is normally deleted within twelve months of the last message unless a longer period is needed to settle a question you raised. The cookie expires on its own schedule, and server logs follow the retention period of the hosting provider.

Sharing information

We do not pass personal information to third parties for their own purposes. Information is shared only with the service providers that make the site and email work, namely the hosting provider, our email provider and Google for fonts and maps, and, where the law requires it, with public authorities.

Your rights

Under the APPI you may ask us to tell you what personal information we hold about you, to correct it if it is wrong, to stop using it, or to delete it. To make a request, email info@mistyrivervalley.com or call +81 88-429-1740 and tell us which message or contact you mean, so that we can find it. We will reply without undue delay. Since we keep almost nothing, the usual answer will be that we hold only the emails you sent us.

Children

The blog is written for general readers and does not ask anyone for personal information. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If a parent or guardian believes that a child has sent us a message, please tell us and we will delete it.

Security

The pages are static files with no database behind them, which keeps the amount of stored information very small. The site is meant to be served over an encrypted HTTPS connection, and we keep correspondence in a mailbox that only the editors can open. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot promise absolute security, but we will act promptly if we learn of a problem that affects your information.

Changes to this policy

We will revise this page when the site changes, for example if we add a contact form, a newsletter or any measurement tool. The current version is always the one on this page, and a substantial change will be shown at the top of the page for a while. Please read it again from time to time.

Questions and complaints

If something here is unclear, or you think we have handled your information badly, write to info@mistyrivervalley.com or call +81 88-429-1740. You may also contact the Personal Information Protection Commission of Japan.