This Privacy Policy explains what information Michi to Japan collects, why, how it is used and stored, and the choices you have. It describes how the service works today; we will update it if that changes.
1. Information we collect
Account information. Your name, email address, and password. Passwords are stored only as a one-way hash, not in readable form.
Profile details. Your home country and time zone, which you give us when you join the waitlist or finish setting up your account.
Learning information. Your lesson progress and completion, the answers you submit to exercises, the grading and feedback returned, and any messages you send to your teacher about a submission.
AI conversation data. The messages you send to the AI conversation partner 「愛」 and its replies.
Community and travel content. Chat messages, reactions, destinations you add, travel experiences and reviews, and photos you upload.
Bookings and requests. Live-session bookings, and details you send through forms such as the waitlist and Premium application (name, email, and your message).
Subscription information. Whether you have a subscription, its status, its current billing period, whether it is set to cancel, and whether the waitlist discount applies. Your card details are handled by Stripe and are not stored by us.
Agreement records. When you agreed to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and which versions.
Technical information. Like most websites, our hosting provider processes technical data needed to serve the site, such as your IP address, browser and device information, and the pages requested. We do not store your IP address in our own database.
2. Why we collect it, and how we use it
- To create and secure your account and let you sign in
- To provide the lessons, grade your answers, unlock lessons, and show your progress
- To provide AI conversation practice and other AI-assisted features
- To run the community, the countryside pages, and live sessions
- To process subscriptions, apply discounts, and manage cancellations
- To respond to your requests and questions, including password reset requests
- To send you account emails (a welcome message and password reset links) and to tell you when the course opens
- To keep the service secure, prevent misuse, and enforce our Terms
- To meet legal obligations
3. What other people can see
- World map. Your name, home country, and number of completed lessons may appear as a pin on the world map, which is visible on the public home page.
- Community content. Chat messages, travel posts, reviews, and your display name are visible to other signed-in members. Next to your name in the chat, members also see where you are on the course journey (a car, plane, ship, or Japan icon based on how many lessons you have completed) and your INAKA stars — one per countryside post you have written, becoming an "INAKA Master" badge at 100 posts. Diary and recommendation pages written by Michi are public.
- Photos. Photos you upload are served from a web address that is hard to guess but is not password-protected; anyone who has the link to a photo can view it.
Please do not post personal information you do not want others to see.
4. How information is stored and protected
Account and course data is stored in a PostgreSQL database hosted by Neon. The website runs on Vercel. Photos you upload are stored in that database. Passwords are stored as one-way hashes. Sign-in uses a session token kept in a cookie in your browser. We limit access to administrative functions to the teacher account. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
5. Services that process information for us
- Stripe processes subscription payments and issues receipts. When you subscribe, your email address and account identifier are shared with Stripe, and you enter your card details on Stripe's secure page. Stripe's use of your information is described in its own privacy policy.
- Anthropic is the AI provider behind our AI features (see section 6).
- Resend delivers our emails. To send you a welcome message, a password reset link, or the course announcement, your name and email address are shared with Resend, which processes them under its own privacy policy. If you would rather not receive emails from us beyond password resets, reply to any of them or write to us and we will stop.
- Cloudflare Stream delivers the lesson videos. When you play a video, your browser connects to Cloudflare, which receives technical data such as your IP address and device information, and processes it under its own privacy policy. We do not send your name or email address to Cloudflare.
- Neon hosts our database and Vercel hosts and delivers the website, including standard request logs.
- Google Fonts. Your browser loads the site's fonts from Google's font service, which means your browser sends a request (including its IP address) to Google when a page loads.
We do not sell your personal information.
6. AI processing
Our AI features use models from Anthropic, accessed through Anthropic's API. When you use them, the relevant text is sent to Anthropic to generate a response:
- Conversation with 愛. Your message, your recent conversation history with 愛, and the list of lessons you have completed (so 愛 only uses what you have learned).
- Grading. The exercise questions and the answers you submit.
- Lesson content. Some lessons are prepared with AI; this uses lesson topics and does not include your personal information.
We store your conversations with 愛 and your graded submissions in our database so you can see your history. How Anthropic handles data sent through its API is governed by Anthropic's own terms and privacy policy. Please do not share sensitive personal information in your messages to 愛. AI-generated responses are provided for educational purposes and may occasionally contain errors.
7. Cookies and analytics
We use only the cookies needed to keep you signed in and to protect sign-in requests. These are essential for the service to work. We do not currently use advertising cookies, and we do not currently use third-party analytics tools. If that changes, we will update this policy.
8. How long we keep information
We keep your account information, learning history, and content for as long as your account exists. We do not currently delete accounts automatically on a fixed schedule. When you ask us to delete your account, we delete the account and the content linked to it, except for information we must keep for legal or accounting reasons. Payment records held by Stripe are kept by Stripe under its own policies.
9. Account and data deletion, and your rights
You can ask us to delete your account and data, or ask for a copy of the information we hold about you, by emailing michinihongokyoshitsu@gmail.com from the address linked to your account. Depending on where you live, applicable law may also give you the right to access, correct, delete, or restrict the use of your information, to object to certain uses, or to complain to your local data protection authority. We will respond as required by applicable law.
10. Children
The service is intended for people age 15 or older. If you believe a younger child has given us personal information, please contact us so we can address it.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when needed. The date at the top shows when it was last updated, and we will let users know of material changes where appropriate.
12. Contact
Privacy questions and requests: michinihongokyoshitsu@gmail.com. See also our Terms of Service.