The following terms of use apply to all persons ("you" or "User(s)", depending upon the context) to use the services, software and other products irrespective of whether those are provided for free or for charge (collectively, "Services") provided by Towa Partners Inc. ("we", "us", or "our"), the sole operator of Samurai Board (https://www.japanguru.me/) (our "Site").

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Chapter 1 General Rules
1. Definitions
The following words and terms shall have the meanings set forth below when they are used in these Terms of Use.
1.1. “Contents” means information such as text, sounds, music, images, videos, software, programs, computer code, and other information.
1.2. “Subject Contents” means Contents that may be accessed through the Services.
1.3. “Submission (Submit)” means the act of submitting, posting, disclosing, providing or transmitting Contents to or on the Services.
1.4. “Submitted Contents” means Contents that Users have Submitted to the Services.
1.5. “Individual Conditions of Use” means the conditions of use separate from these Terms of Use that pertain to specific Services released or uploaded by us, and which apply to the use of the Services, under names such as “general conditions,” “terms”, “guidelines,” “policies,” or the like.
1.6. “Charges” means the cost required for using the Services regardless of the name such as charge, rate, fee, membership fee or otherwise (including the User’s debts for which we have been entrusted the collection thereof by a third party).
1.7. “Subscription Services” means services where you can use specific Contents or the Services designated by us for a given period of time by paying a fixed fee.

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2. Use of the Services
2.1. In order to use the Services, you must agree to these Terms of Use, irrespective of whether Charges are applicable or whether account registration is required.
2.2. We will deem that you have agreed to these Terms of Use by actually using the Services, irrespective of whether you have signed up with our Site.
2.3. Users who are minors may only use the Services by obtaining prior consent from their parents or legal guardians. 
2.4. If Users will be using the Services on behalf of, or for the purposes of, a business enterprise, then such business enterprise must also agree to, and is hereby deemed to have agreed to, these Terms of Use prior to using the Services.
2.5. Users shall use the Services under their own responsibility.

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3. Restriction on use of the Services
3.1. We may add conditions for use of the Services, such as limiting their use to those who have a registered account, or who are a certain age or older, or who satisfy certain requirements through procedures specified by us, such as identity identification.
3.2. We do not allow use by members of anti-social forces (including those who were members in the past), or by persons so involved, or by persons who abuse the Services, or through their use cause trouble to a third party.

 

4. Account registration information
4.1. When registering an account, you are obligated to (1) register true and accurate information, and (2) make appropriate corrections by yourself to keep that registered information up to date.
4.2. Any User who has registered an account may delete such User’s account at any time.
4.3. Any and all rights of a User to use the Services for which the registration of an account is required shall cease to exist when such User’s account has been deleted for any reason. Please take note that an account cannot be retrieved even if a User has accidentally deleted his/her account.
4.4. An account is for exclusive use and belongs solely to the User of such account. Users may not transfer, lease or otherwise dispose their rights to use the Services for which the registration of an account is required to any third party, nor may the same be inherited or succeeded to by any third party.

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5. Provision of Subscription Services
5.1. Users may receive Subscription Services under the conditions prescribed by us. In addition to these Terms, Users shall abide by the fees for the Subscription Services, the payment method thereof, as well as other Individual Conditions of Use posted on the Services or on our website.
5.2. Excluding the cases set out in the Individual Conditions of Use, Users may take procedures for the cancellation of Subscription Services at any time; provided, however, that even if a User takes the procedures for cancellation prior to the intended period of use, the User may not change such period of use, nor may the User cancel the purchase of the Subscription Services. In such case, the fees already paid will not be refunded, nor will there be any refund on a pro rata basis. However, the foregoing will not apply if laws or regulations require otherwise.
5.3. If a User does not complete its cancellation procedure by the designated date and time, the period of use of the Subscription Services may be automatically renewed in accordance with the terms prescribed by us even after the end of the period of use of such Subscription Services.

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6. Advertisement
We may post our ads or those of a third party on the Services.

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7. No emergency call functions
The Services cannot be depended upon for emergency calls, such as those made to law enforcement agencies, maritime safety authorities, fire brigade or other emergency services.

 

8. Contents
8.1. We grant Users a non-transferable, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive license to use the Subject Contents provided by us, solely for the purpose of using the Services.
8.2. Users shall abide by the conditions applicable thereto when using the Subject Contents which are subject to conditions of use, such as additional fees and periods of use and the like. Even if terms such as “Purchase”, “Sales,” and the like appear on the screens for the Services, we shall remain the owner of all intellectual property rights as well as all other rights in the Contents offered to Users by us, and such rights shall not be transferred to Users. Users will only be granted usage rights as set forth above.
8.3. You must not use (including, without limitation, copying, transmitting, reproducing and modifying) the Subject Contents beyond the scope of the intended use of the Subject Contents in the Services.

 

9. Handling of User’s data and Contents
9.1. We shall not be obligated to back up data and the Submitted Contents stored by you on servers managed by us. You are responsible for backing it up yourself.
9.2. Copyrights in the Submitted Contents belong to you or the copyright holder of such Contents.
Among the Submitted Contents, with regard to those Submitted to the Services that can be accessed by unspecified or large number of Users, such as electronic bulletin boards, and those disclosed to other general Users, you shall license (including, without limitation, a sublicensing right) us the right to use (including, without limitation, replication, screening, public transmission, exhibition, distribution, transfer, loan, translation, adaptation and publication) such Submitted Contents free of charge and non-exclusively, with indefinite duration within and outside of Japan.
The Services may include functions where multiple Users may edit Contents (post, correct, and delete, etc.). In such case, a User who posted his/her Submitted Contents shall grant other Users the right to edit such Submitted Contents.
Moreover, you shall not exercise rights such as author’s moral rights.
9.3. If we acknowledge that you have violated, or may violate, laws and regulations or these Terms of Use in connection with the Submitted Contents, or when otherwise reasonably required for business, we may restrict the use of the Services, such as by deleting the Submitted Contents, without requiring any prior notice to you.
9.4. We may check and confirm the contents of the Submitted Contents by Users to the extent permissible under laws and regulations, when it is necessary for us to confirm compliance with related laws and regulations or the provisions set out in these Terms, etc.; provided, however, that we are not obligated to conduct such confirmation.

 

10. Message function using an electronic bulletin board, browsing thereof and right of deletion
Certain Services provide a message exchanging function among Users by using the system of an electronic bulletin board. Certain electronic bulletin boards can only be browsed by the three parties of the sender of the message, recipient of the message, and us. In the foregoing case, we may browse the subject matter as needed and delete the message in light of these Terms of Use.

 

11. User's responsibility related to account and password, etc.
When registering authentication information in using the Services, a User must strictly manage such authentication information under its own responsibility so that it will not be abused. If an operation is performed using the User’s authentication information that was registered (including without limitation cases where the User is authentication based on a combination of account and password, or based on a comparison of the code uniquely assigned for each mobile phone number sent from a mobile operator and the registered information), we will provide the Services by deeming that such operation is an act by the actual User. If Charges are incurred for the use of the Services or purchase of products as a result of a person other than the registered User performing operations using the User’s authentication information, we will bill such Charges to the User unless there was willful misconduct or negligence on our part.

 

12. Provision of the Services
12.1. Users shall supply PCs, mobile phone devices, smartphones and other communication devices, operating systems, communication methods and electricity, etc. necessary for using the Services at their own responsibility and expense.
12.2. We may temporarily suspend providing all or part of the Services in case of the occurrence of any of the following:
(1) when conducting maintenance or repair of systems;
(2) when the Services cannot be provided due to force majeure such as an accident (fire, power outage, etc.), act of God, war, riot, labor dispute;
(3) when there is system failure or heavy load on the system;
(4) when securing the safety of Users or third parties, or in the case of an emergency for the public welfare; or
(5) when we reasonably determine it to be necessary, other than those set forth in each of the preceding items.

 

13. Warranty of and modification to the Services
13.1. With regard to the contents of the Services, we make no guarantee, whether express or implied, about the nonexistence of problems (including, without limitation, security-related defects, errors and bugs and infringement of rights), or about its security, reliability, accuracy, completeness, effectiveness and suitability for a particular purpose, and continuity of the provision of the Services. We are not obligated to provide the Services to you upon eliminating such problems.
13.2. We may modify all or a part of the contents of the Services when corresponding to any of the following items:
(1) when modification to the contents of the Services, such as addition of functions to or improvement of the Services, conforms to the general interests of Users; or
(2) in cases other than the preceding item, there is rationality in light of the necessity to modify the contents of the Services, appropriateness of the contents after modification, and other circumstances concerning the modification.

 

14. Prohibition of reuse of the Services, etc.
Unless otherwise prescribed by us, you may not use the Services, or the data they consist of, for a purpose other than the purpose for which they are provided. If you do, we have the right to suspend such an act and charge you an amount equivalent to the profit or benefit you received from such an act.

 

15. Matters to be observed in using the Services
The following acts are prohibited when using the Services:
(1) act that is in violation of laws and regulations, court judgments, decisions or orders, or legally binding administrative measures;
(2) act that is contrary to social norms or public policy, fraud or fraud-related activities, act of infringing upon the copyrights, trademark rights, patent rights or other intellectual property rights, honor rights, privacy rights or other rights granted by law or other contractual rights of us or those of a third party, or act of causing trouble to others;
(3) act of Submitting excessively violent expressions, sexually explicit expressions, expressions corresponding to child pornography or child abuse, expressions that lead to discrimination by race, nationality, beliefs, gender, social status or family origin, expressions that may induce or facilitate suicide, self-injury or drug abuse, or other expressions that include antisocial contents and cause displeasure to others;
(4) act of Submitting programs, etc. that will destroy or obstruct the functions of software and hardware, etc. being used by other Users;
(5) act of destroying or obstructing the functions of our server or network, act of wrongfully operating the Services by using BOT, cheat tools or other technical means, act of intentionally using a defect of the Services, act of making unreasonable inquiries or requests to us, such as by repeatedly asking the same question, or any other act that obstructs or impairs the operation of the Services or the use of the Services by other Users;
(6) act of performing reverse engineering, disassembly, or decoding of the source code by any other means for unjustifiable purposes or in a wrongful manner;
(7) act of obstructing the Services, ads distributed by us, or services or ads provided on our sites or apps;
(8) act of wrongfully collecting, accumulating, disclosing or providing information related to third parties such as personal information, registration information and usage history information;
(9) act of sending the same or similar messages to a large, indefinite number of Users (except for those approved by us), act of indiscriminately adding other Users as friends or to group talk in the Services such as the application “LINE” provided by us, or any other act deemed by us to constitute spamming;
(10) act of converting the right to use the Services or Contents into cash, property or other economic gain in a method other than the method prescribed by us;
(11) act of engaging in sales, publicity, advertisement, solicitation or any other act for profit, act with the purpose of meeting or dating strangers (excluding those approved by us), act with the purpose of sexual conduct or obscene acts, act with the purpose of harassing or slandering other Users, religious activities or act of solicitating others to religious organizations, or any other act of using the Services for purposes other than as intended by the Services;
(12) act of Using the Services by using another User’s account;
(13) act that leads to the misrepresentation of us and/or a third party or that intentionally spreads false information;
(14) act of acquiring accounts or passwords from others or disclosing or providing accounts or passwords to others, irrespective of the means thereof;
(15) act of offering benefits to antisocial forces directly or indirectly, or any other act of cooperating with antisocial forces;
(16) act of assisting or facilitating any act corresponding to each of the preceding items, or act of preparing the same;
(17) in addition to each of the preceding items, any act that is reasonably deemed inappropriate by us.

 

16. No assignment of rights or obligations
You may not assign all or part of the contractual status of an agreement falling under these Terms of Use, or the rights and obligations arising therefrom, to a third party without our prior written consent.

 

17. Deletion of Submission, suspension of use of the Services, deletion of account
17.1. In any of the following cases, in order to appropriately operate the Services we provide, we may, without prior notice, take such measures as deleting data or Contents, prohibiting the use of all or part of the Services, or deleting User’s accounts.
In addition, if you have registered multiple accounts, measures may be taken on all of those accounts:
(1) when you violate any of the matters stipulated in the laws and regulations, these Terms of Use or the Individual Conditions of Use, or when we reasonably determine that there is a risk of such a violation;
(2) when you impair our credibility by spreading rumors, using fraudulent means, using force or other wrongful means;
(3) when an account is registered or used by an anti-social force or its members or persons so involved, or when we reasonably determine that there is such a risk;
(4) excluding the cases set out in the Individual Conditions of Use, when you have not used your account or specific Services for 1 year or longer; and
(5) in any other case where we reasonably determine that it is difficult to maintain the contractual relationship between you and us, such as when the relationship of trust with you is lost.
17.2. When we reasonably determine that you are facing credit uncertainty such as when our claims held against you are subject to attachment or provisional attachment, or when you receive a petition for commencement of bankruptcy, civil rehabilitation or other similar proceedings, or you independently file the foregoing petitions, in order to appropriately operate the Services, we may, without prior notice, take such measures as suspending the use of our paid services and our payment settlement services or terminating the contract related to the provision of such services. In addition, if you have registered multiple accounts, measures may be taken on all of those accounts.
17.3. In any of the following cases, in order to appropriately operate the Services, we may, without prior notice, take such measures as deleting User’s accounts in addition to the measures of 17.2 above.
In addition, if you have registered multiple accounts, measures may be taken on all of those accounts:
(1) when there is a delay in payment of the Charges payable to us and, despite being formally demanded by us to make payment within a reasonable period, you fail to do so within the foregoing period on multiple occasions, and we reasonably determine that it is difficult to maintain our contractual relationship with you;
(2) when the use of a credit card or bank account designated as the method for settlement of Charges of the Service is suspended, and despite being formally demanded by us repeatedly to register another valid credit card or bank account, you fail to do so within a reasonable period, and we reasonably determine that it is difficult to maintain our contractual relationship with you; and
(3) when our claims held against you are subject to attachment, or we reasonably determine that you are facing credit uncertainty such as when you receive a petition for commencement of bankruptcy, civil rehabilitation or other similar proceedings, or you independently file the foregoing petitions.

 

18. Compensation to us
If we suffer any damage due to your willful misconduct or negligence, you must compensate the damage that we suffered immediately when we demand such compensation.

 

19. Disclaimer
19.1. We shall be exempt from liability, irrespective of the nature thereof, unless it is due to our willful intent or gross negligence.
19.2. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, if a contract with a User regarding the use of the Services under these Terms of Use falls under a consumer contract as defined under the Consumer Contract Act of Japan, we will be liable for compensation for loss or damage within the range of the loss or damage that would normally occur, up to the maximum of the amount of the Charges for paid Services (equivalent to one month’s fees in the case of Subscription Services), and will not be liable for lost profits or other damages arising due to special circumstances, except for cases arising out of our willful intent or gross negligence.
19.3. If we cause damage to you due to gross negligence on our part, we will not be liable for lost profits or other damages arising due to special circumstances, and will be liable for compensation for loss or damage within the range of the loss or damage that would normally occur, up to the maximum of the amount of the Charges for paid Services (equivalent to one month’s fees in the case of Subscription Services); save for cases where a contract with a User regarding the use of the Services under these Terms of Use falls under a consumer contract as defined under the Consumer Contract Act of Japan.

 

20. Individual Conditions of Use
For certain Services, Individual Conditions of Use may be prescribed in addition to these Terms of Use.
If there is any difference between these Terms of Use and the Individual Conditions of Use, unless otherwise specified, the Individual Conditions of Use shall prevail over these Terms of Use in relation to such Services.

 

21. Third-party services
The Services may contain services or Contents provided by third parties other than us. Such third parties shall bear any and all responsibility regarding such services and/or Contents. Furthermore, there may be conditions of use provided by such third party which are applicable to such services and Contents.

 

22. Notification or contact
22.1. Any communication from us to you in relation to the Services will be made by way of posting on the Services or at a proper location in our website or any other method that we deem appropriate.
22.2. If you wish to contact us, please do so according to the method designated by us, such as by using the inquiry form provided by us or by e-mail to the e-mail address specified by us.
22.3. As a general rule, we will respond to inquiries from Users only by using the message function or by e-mail.

 

23. Privacy
23.1. We place top priority on the privacy of its Users.
23.2. We will appropriately handle information related to individual Users in accordance with the Privacy Policy published on our Site.
23.3. We promise to exercise the utmost care and attention to its security measures to ensure the safe management of any and all information collected from Users.

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24. Revision to these Terms of Use
We may revise these Terms of Use in any of the following cases.
In the foregoing case, we will make public, by indicating on the Services or our website, or notifying Users according to a method prescribed by us, to the effect that these Terms of Use will be revised, as well as the subject matter and effective date of the revised version of these Terms of Use. In the case of Item (2) below, we will make the revision public a reasonable period before the effective date of the revision. The revised version of these Terms of Use shall come into effect from the effective date:
(1) when revision to these Terms of Use conforms to the general interests of Users; or
(2) when revision to these Terms of Use is not in breach of the purpose of any contract, and is rational in light of the necessity of such revision, appropriateness of the subject matter after revision, and other circumstances concerning the revision.

 

25. Governing law and jurisdiction
The Japanese version of these Terms of Use shall be the official text, and the establishment, coming into force, and interpretation of these Terms of Use shall be governed by the laws of Japan.
Any dispute arising between the User and us attributable or related to the Services (including the content of posts, advertising, etc.) shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of Tokyo District Court as the court of first instance.

 

26. Restriction on application of these Terms of Use
If a provision in these Terms of Use is considered to be contrary to relevant laws and regulations which are applicable to an agreement with a User that is based on these Terms of Use, the said provision shall not be applicable to the agreement with the said User to that extent.
However, even in such instance, the validity of all of the other provisions of these Terms of Use shall be not affected.

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(Revised on September 20, 2025)

 

Special Provisions for European Union Users
These Provisions describe the matters to be provided under the provisions of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (the “DSA”).
1. Points of contact for recipients of the service
Users in the European Union may make inquiries and make reports on posted contents from the following form.
<https://www.japanguru.me/contact>
2. Points of contact for Member States’ authorities, the Commission and the Board & Legal representative
The authorities of European Union’s Member States, the European Commission, and the European Board for Digital Services may contact us regarding the DSA by the inquiry form (https://www.japanguru.me/contact).
3. Content moderation
We are doing its best to maintain the integrity of the service through patrols so that the services provided by us are safe and secure for the Users and can be used with comfort.
We monitor and conduct patrols of areas where Users can freely post and view, and are available to the public.
In addition, if a User discovers a post that is prohibited by the laws and regulations or the terms of use of each service, such User may report that to us by using the inquiry form.
We will determine whether such post violates the laws and regulations or the terms of use under our guidelines, which are based on the laws and regulations and the prohibited matters set forth in the terms of use, and if a violation is recognized, we will hide or delete such post, or will suspend or terminate the provision of the service on which such post was made. In addition, if a post is determined to be malicious, the account that made such post itself may be suspended or deleted.