Information We Collect

When you engage with our English vocabulary programs, we collect several types of information to provide and improve our services. Here's what we gather and why.

Personal Identification Information

This includes basic details you provide when registering for our programs:

• Full name and preferred name for classroom use
• Email address for course communications
• Phone number for program updates and emergency contact
• Residential address in Japan for program materials delivery
• Age range or date of birth to ensure age-appropriate content
• Language proficiency level for proper class placement

Learning Activity Data

We track your progress through our vocabulary programs to personalize your learning experience. This includes quiz results, completion rates, study patterns, and areas where you excel or need additional support. We don't share individual performance data with anyone outside our teaching team.

Technical Information

Our systems automatically collect basic technical data when you use our online platforms: IP address, browser type, device information, and access times. This helps us maintain security and optimize our platform performance.

How We Use Your Information

Every piece of data we collect serves a specific purpose related to your education or our operational needs.

We also use aggregated, anonymized data to understand broader learning patterns and improve our curriculum design. Individual student performance is never identifiable in these analyses.

Data Sharing and Third Parties

We don't sell your personal information. Period. However, we do share limited data with specific partners who help us deliver our services.

Educational Partners

If you're participating in a program that involves guest instructors or partner institutions, we may share relevant academic information with those entities. You'll always know in advance if your data will be shared this way.

Service Providers

We work with third-party companies for specific functions:

• Payment processors for secure transaction handling
• Email service providers for course communications
• Cloud storage providers for secure data backup
• Analytics tools for website performance monitoring

Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by Japanese law, court order, or government regulation. We'll notify you of such requests unless legally prohibited from doing so.

Your Privacy Rights

Under Japanese privacy law (Act on the Protection of Personal Information), you have several rights regarding your personal data. We've made exercising these rights straightforward.

To exercise any of these rights, send a written request to our privacy team using the contact information below. We'll respond within 30 days and verify your identity before proceeding.

Data Security Measures

Protecting your information is a daily priority, not an afterthought. We've put several layers of security in place to safeguard your data.

All personal information is encrypted during transmission using industry-standard SSL/TLS protocols. When data is at rest on our servers, it's protected by AES-256 encryption. Our hosting facilities in Japan maintain strict physical security with 24/7 monitoring.

Access to student data is restricted to authorized staff who need it for their specific roles. Each team member undergoes privacy training and signs confidentiality agreements. We also conduct regular security audits to identify and address potential vulnerabilities.

Data Retention Periods

We don't keep your information longer than necessary. Here's how long we typically retain different types of data:

• Active enrollment records: Maintained throughout your program participation plus two years for academic reference purposes
• Financial records: Kept for seven years to comply with Japanese tax and accounting regulations
• Marketing communications: Stored until you unsubscribe, then deleted within 30 days
• Technical logs: Retained for 90 days for security monitoring, then automatically purged
• Learning progress data: Available to you during enrollment and archived for three years afterward

After retention periods expire, we securely delete or anonymize your information so it can't be traced back to you.

Children's Privacy

Some of our programs accept students under 18 years old. When working with minors, we require parental or guardian consent before collecting any personal information. Parents have the right to review their child's data, request corrections, or ask for deletion at any time.

We collect only the minimum information necessary for program participation from younger students, and we never use children's data for marketing purposes or share it with third parties beyond essential service providers.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website uses cookies—small text files stored on your device—to remember your preferences and analyze site usage. We use both session cookies (which expire when you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which remain until you delete them or they expire).

You can control cookie settings through your browser preferences. Blocking certain cookies may affect site functionality, particularly features that remember your login status or language preferences. We don't use cookies to track your activity across other websites.

International Data Transfers

Your personal information is primarily stored on servers located in Japan. If we ever need to transfer data outside Japan—for example, when using international service providers—we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place through contractual agreements that meet Japanese privacy standards.

You'll be informed if your data will be processed outside Japan, and you have the right to object to such transfers if they don't meet adequate protection standards.

Changes to This Policy

We review and update this privacy policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. When we make significant changes, we'll notify current students by email at least 30 days before the new policy takes effect.

The "Last Updated" date at the top of this page shows when we most recently revised the policy. Continuing to use our services after changes take effect means you accept the updated terms.