Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how we handle information on kakikukeko (https://kakikukeko.com/, “the Site”), a multilingual portal providing information on Japanese-language proficiency exams.

We collect the following information in order to provide the Site.

(1) If you use the community features (registration)

• Email address — Used to send your login link (magic link) and to identify your account. We do not collect passwords.
• Nickname and display language — Shown publicly as the author name.
• Content and time of posts, comments, votes and reports — Posts and comments are publicly visible on the Site.
• IP address and access time — Recorded temporarily to prevent abuse (limits on repeated posts and excessive requests) and to keep the Site secure.

(2) All visitors

We use an analytics tool (Google Analytics) to improve the service, which may collect the following information through cookies.

• Pages viewed, time spent, and referring site
• Type of device and browser
• Approximate location (based on IP address; never identified below the city level)

This information is processed statistically and is not used to identify individuals.

Page view counts (anonymous totals; IP addresses etc. are not stored)

(3) If you suggest a translation improvement

• Translation suggestions (optional free text; we do not collect names or email addresses) — used, together with the language and address of the page, to improve translations.

• Providing the community features (login, posts, comments, votes, and showing author names)
• Sending login emails (we do not send any promotional emails)
• Preventing abuse and nuisance, responding to violations of the Community Guidelines, and handling reports
• Showing translations of posts (when you press “Show translation”)
• Responding to inquiries and removal requests
• Analyzing and improving how the Site is used (statistics only)
• Improving translations (reviewing and applying translation suggestions)

Except as required by law, we do not use personal information for any purpose other than those above, and do not provide it to third parties without your consent.

We classify cookies as follows.

A consent banner shown on first visit lets you choose whether to allow analytics cookies. You can change your choice anytime via the “Cookie settings” link in the footer. Core site functions work even if you decline.

To provide and improve the service, information may be sent from your device to the following third-party services. Your name and email address are not included.

Email (Amazon SES) is sent from our server, not from your device.

We handle the following only if you choose social login.

• Information we receive: the user identifier (ID) issued by the provider and, if provided, your email address. We do not collect your profile photo, real name or friends list.
• Purpose: logging you in and verifying it is you, and linking to an existing account. We link automatically only when Google confirms the email address is verified; we never link automatically for Facebook (if an account with the same email exists, we ask you to log in by email).
• External transmission: when you log in, your browser goes to the provider's site below, and the provider returns the information above to this site.

You can sign up even if no email address is provided.

When you log in, we set an essential cookie named “kk_sid” in your browser. Its purpose is to keep you logged in and to share your login with related kakikukeko sites, such as our sister site “kakikukeko exam” (exam.kakikukeko.com, a mock-exam site). The operator of “kakikukeko exam” is the same kakikukeko Committee that runs this site.

• What the cookie contains: a random value with no meaning (no name, email address or other personal information). Our server stores only an irreversible hash of this value, not the value itself.
• Retention: up to 90 days; it expires if you do not use the site for 30 days. It is deleted when you log out.
• Attributes and where it is sent: HttpOnly (scripts cannot read it), Secure (HTTPS only), SameSite=Lax. It is sent to kakikukeko.com and its subdomains (such as exam.kakikukeko.com).
• Information provided to related sites: only your member ID, nickname, display language and account status. Your email address is not shared. Related sites’ servers check your login state through a read-only area of our database; they cannot change your member data or login state.
• Not subject to the consent banner: this is an essential cookie required to provide the login function you asked for, and is different from analytics or advertising cookies, so the cookie consent banner does not apply to it.
• Status checks and deletion: if your account is suspended or deleted, you can no longer log in on related sites either. If your account is deleted, related sites delete your personal data. If you do not want to share your login, do not log in to the related sites.

The Site uses the following external services. Each handles information only to the extent necessary to operate the Site.

• Google Analytics (Google LLC, USA) — Usage analytics. Google’s Privacy Policy / Opt-out Browser Add-on
• Google Cloud Translation (Google LLC, USA) — When a user presses “Show translation”, the text of that post or comment is sent for translation. Account information such as email addresses is never sent. Translations are stored on the Site and reused when the same post is translated again.
• Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon Web Services, Japan (Tokyo) region) — Your email address is sent in order to deliver login emails.
• Amazon Lightsail (Amazon Web Services, Japan (Tokyo) region) — Hosts the Site’s servers and database.
• Google AdSense (Google LLC, USA) — Ad delivery and measurement. Ads are shown and advertising cookies are used only if you consent in the cookie banner or Cookie settings (you can change your choice at any time).

• Account information (email address, nickname): kept until we receive a request to delete your account.
• Posts and comments: published and kept until you delete them or we remove them for violating the Community Guidelines. Deleted posts are no longer shown publicly but may be kept for a certain period to handle reports and disputes.
• Login links: expire 15 minutes after being issued and can be used only once (stored in the database only in a form that cannot be restored).
• Abuse-prevention records including IP addresses: automatically deleted, as a rule, within a few days.
• Analytics data: retained according to Google Analytics settings (event data up to 14 months).
• Translation suggestions: deleted one year after we decide whether to apply them. The value derived from your IP address for limiting submissions (converted so it cannot be reversed) is deleted after 7 days.
• Shared-login cookie (kk_sid) and session records: up to 90 days (expires after 30 days without use); deleted when you log out. Server-side records are deleted 7 days after they expire, and the irreversibly converted value of your IP address is deleted after 7 days.

Data processed by Google Analytics and Google Cloud Translation may be processed on servers outside Japan, including in the United States. The United States has systems that are not necessarily equivalent to the personal-information protection regimes of the EU or Japan, but Google LLC takes measures based on international data-protection frameworks. Only post text that is already public is sent for translation.

You may request disclosure, correction, suspension of use, or deletion (including account deletion) of your personal information held by us. Please send your request from your registered email address to the contact below. We will respond within a reasonable period after verifying your identity.

You can delete your own posts and comments yourself from your profile page.

You can delete your account yourself at any time from the withdrawal page (Withdraw (delete account)). When you withdraw, your account and related data are deleted immediately and cannot be restored.

• What is deleted: your email address and nickname; your login methods (including the identifier and email address stored for Google / Facebook login); your login sessions; and the text of your community posts and comments (replaced with a “deleted” notice to keep threads intact, and no longer linked to you).
• Related sites: your study and exam records on related sites such as kakikukeko exam are also deleted within a few minutes.
• Your Google or Facebook account itself is not affected.
• If you cannot use the withdrawal page, write to contact@kakikukeko.com from your registered email address.

The Site is intended for a broad audience, including minors researching study/work options, but we do not knowingly collect personally identifying information from children.

Please do not include information that can identify you — such as your name, address, phone number or residence card number — in community posts.

For inquiries or requests about this policy and the handling of personal information, please contact us below.

Operator: kakikukeko Committee
Email: contact@kakikukeko.com

We may revise this policy as laws or our services change. Material changes will be announced on the Site.