Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-08-27

This policy explains what Japan Block by Block (https://japanblockbyblock.com) does with information when you read this site, and what we do with information our own tools obtain from third-party platforms. It is written to be read, not to be survived, so it is short and specific.

Who runs this site

Japan Block by Block is an independent publication run by a small, Japan-based team. We publish English-language guides comparing Japanese products and travel services. We are the data controller for this site.

Information we collect from visitors

Aggregate traffic measurement. This site is served through Cloudflare, and we use Cloudflare Web Analytics to count page views. It reports totals only: page paths, referring sites, country, browser and device type. It does not build a profile of you, does not use an advertising identifier, and does not follow you to other sites. We see numbers, not people.

Cookies and browser storage. This site does not include a site-authored cookie or local-storage mechanism for advertising, profiling, or tracking you between sessions. Cloudflare may set strictly necessary cookies to keep the site available and to filter automated traffic. We also load the Travelpayouts Drive script on every HTML page, as described below. We have not confirmed from Travelpayouts’ official materials whether Drive sets cookies or uses local storage in a visitor’s browser, so we do not make a claim either way. If you click through to a merchant or affiliate partner, that company may use its own cookies or storage under its own privacy policy.

Server logs. Requests to this site pass through Cloudflare’s network, which processes technical request data (including IP address) to deliver the page and protect the site. See Cloudflare’s own privacy documentation for how it handles that data.

What we do not do

We state these plainly because they are the questions people actually have:

• We do not run a mailing list, and there is no form on this site that asks for your email address.
• We do not offer accounts, logins, or memberships, so we hold no passwords.
• We do not sell, rent, or trade any visitor information.
• We do not sell display advertising or knowingly use advertising retargeting pixels.
• We do not knowingly collect information from children.

Affiliate links

Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you buy or book through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This never changes which option a guide recommends. The programs we currently use are:

• Amazon Associates - links to Amazon carry our associate tag nipponpicks08-20. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
• Klook - links to Klook carry our affiliate ID aid=128300.
• Travelpayouts Drive - we load its script on every HTML page to help monetize relevant outbound links and attribute referrals.

Travelpayouts Drive is a third-party script that loads while you are on this site. In connection with link monetization and attribution, Travelpayouts or the relevant partner may process technical and referral information such as IP address, browser or device information, the page and referrer, click information, and attribution identifiers. The exact data elements and storage mechanisms used for a given visit are not confirmed here; consult Travelpayouts and the relevant merchant for their current privacy information.

When you follow an affiliate link, Amazon, Klook, Travelpayouts, and/or the relevant merchant may handle the visit under their own privacy policies. We receive commission and performance reports for our affiliate activity; those reports are used to understand link performance, not to identify individual readers.

Some links on this site pass through a short interstitial page on our own domain (/go/…) before sending you to the merchant. That page exists for the outbound-link flow and still loads the Travelpayouts Drive script, so the information described above may be processed there too.

Information obtained through the Pinterest API

We operate a private, single-user internal tool that uses the Pinterest API with our own Pinterest business account only. It exists so we can publish our own articles as Pins and read back how those Pins performed. Specifically:

• What it accesses. Boards, Pins, and Pin analytics belonging to our own account, plus the account’s own profile information.
• What it writes. Pins we create ourselves, linking to pages on japanblockbyblock.com.
• Whose data it touches. Only ours. The tool is not offered to any other person or business, has no other users, has no sign-in for anyone else, and never requests authorization from another Pinterest user.
• What we store. Only what we need to run the tool: our own Pin and board identifiers and the aggregate performance figures Pinterest reports for our own Pins. Access credentials are held privately and are not published.
• What we do not store. We do not collect or store Pinterest users’ personal information, follower lists, private boards, messages, or any sensitive personal data.
• Third parties. We do not share, sell, transfer, or otherwise make available any information obtained through the Pinterest API to any third party. It is used solely to run and measure our own account.

Pinterest’s own handling of your data, when you use Pinterest, is covered by Pinterest’s privacy policy.

How long we keep things

Aggregate analytics figures are retained by Cloudflare according to its own retention period, and we keep our own summary copies of those totals for as long as they are useful for editorial decisions. Because those figures are aggregate, they do not identify you.

Your choices

You can block or delete cookies in your browser, and you can use a browser or extension that blocks analytics scripts; the site works either way. If you are in a region with statutory data rights and you believe we hold information relating to you, write to us at the address below and we will respond.

Changes to this policy

If what we do changes, we change this page and update the date at the top. We do not backdate it.

Contact

Questions or corrections: contact@nippon-picks.com. This existing mailbox continues to receive questions while the site moves to japanblockbyblock.com.