Privacy Policy
JUNCTION ("the Service") is a place to keep your reading records and to talk with other readers and with authors. We take seriously our responsibility for the records and words you entrust to us, and we handle personal information as described below.
1. Our approach
We comply with Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information and other applicable laws and guidelines. We collect only what we need, use it only for the purposes described here, and delete it when it is no longer needed. We never sell your information or share it with other companies for advertising.
2. Information we collect
(1) Information you register or enter - Email address (for login and notifications) - Display name, bio and profile photo - Your shelf, reading status and reading position - Posts, reading notes (public and private), letters, questions, empathy, reactions and messages - Photos you post (we remove embedded data such as location and device before saving) - Reading records imported from other services - The content of reports you submit (2) Information held for author applications - Author name, legal name, a photo of your ID document, your books, official website or social media, publisher and message to us (3) Information recorded automatically when you use the Service - Login records and your IP address - Access times, pages viewed, browser and device type, and error records (kept automatically by our hosting provider) - Settings such as your display language
3. How we collect it
We collect information when you enter or send something, import a file, or use the Service. Content other users write about you (replies, messages, answers to letters, etc.) is also stored in the Service. Book data (titles, authors, covers) comes from openBD and the National Diet Library Search; we never send them your personal information.
4. How we use it
- Creating your account and logging you in - Saving and displaying your records; providing reading notes, posts, letters and other features - Connecting readers (follows, messages, showing readers of the same book) and recommending books - Delivering letters to authors and showing authors' answers - Verifying authors' identity - Sending login emails and notifications - Preventing rule violations and abuse, handling reports, and keeping the Service safe - Investigating problems and improving the Service (including statistics that don't identify individuals) - Complying with the law If we want to use your information for any other purpose, we will ask for your consent first.
5. What is public, and your choices
Your display name, profile photo, bio, posts, public reading notes, public letters and follow relationships are shown to other users. The Service's screens can be viewed only by logged-in users (photos are also served only to logged-in users). Private reading notes, the content of messages (to anyone but the participants), your email address, legal name and ID documents are never shown to other users. You can make your profile private, choose whether to show your reading records, keep your activity off the timeline, choose who can see your letters, switch reading notes between public and private, and turn off email notifications.
6. ID documents
The legal name and ID photo you submit when applying as an author are used only to verify your identity and are seen only by the operator. We re-create the image to remove embedded data before saving and never place it anywhere other users can see. We delete the image and your legal name as soon as we approve or reject the application. Please cover any national identification number (such as Japan's My Number) before sending. If we receive an image showing such a number, we delete it and ask you to send a new one.
7. Content review and use of AI
To keep the Service safe, we check whether posts, letters, questions and other text break our rules. Besides review by the operator, we may use external AI services (Anthropic, OpenAI) for automatic checks and to group similar questions. We send these services only the text needed for the check, never your email address. We use them on terms under which the content we send is not used to train their AI. When we receive a report, the operator reviews the report and the reported content.
9. Buying coins and payments
When you buy coins, you enter your card details on the payment screen of Stripe (Stripe, Inc., United States). Stripe receives your card number directly; it never reaches the Service and we don't store it. We store purchase records (date, number of coins and amount, payment result and Stripe transaction ID), your confirmation that you are 18 or older, and how coins were used (gifts sent and the receiving author). We use these to deliver coins correctly, handle refunds and inquiries, prevent fraudulent purchases, calculate authors' earnings and comply with tax and other laws. Purchase records are kept for the period required by law (generally 7 years) and remain, to the extent necessary, after you delete your account.
10. Service providers and handling outside Japan
We entrust the storage and processing of information to the following providers: - Vercel Inc. (United States): hosting, photo storage and access records - Neon (Databricks, Inc., United States): database - Resend (United States): email delivery - Stripe, Inc. (United States): accepting coin payments (see section 9) - Anthropic PBC and OpenAI, L.L.C. (United States): automatic text checks (see section 7) Our agreements with these providers include commitments to protect information, and we share only what is necessary. [Privacy law in the United States] The United States has no comprehensive federal privacy law like Japan's; protection comes from sector-specific federal laws and state laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act. Government agencies may also request information under the law. By using the Service, you agree to this handling outside Japan.
11. Sharing with third parties
We don't share your personal information with third parties without your consent, except: - where required by law (including lawful requests from courts or police) - where necessary to protect someone's life, body or property and it is difficult to get consent - where especially necessary for public health or the healthy development of children and it is difficult to get consent - where we need to cooperate with government bodies carrying out duties set by law - where the Service is taken over through a merger or business transfer (the successor will follow this policy) Sharing with the providers in section 10 is not considered sharing with third parties.
13. How long we keep it
- Your account and records: until you delete your account - Coin purchase records: for the period required by law (generally 7 years) - Records of login emails sent (email and IP address): 1 day - ID photos and legal names: until the application is approved or rejected - Records of reports and reviews: as long as needed to handle them - Access records kept by our hosting provider: for the period set by that provider Where the law requires us to keep something, we keep it for that period.
14. Deleting your account and taking your records
You can delete your account from Settings at any time. When you do, we delete your account, records, posts and photos. Letters you sent that already reached an author will no longer appear in the author's inbox. You can export your records (shelf, posts, reading notes) as CSV files from Settings at any time.
15. Minimum age
Like other major social apps, the Service is for people aged 13 and over. If the law where you live sets a higher age, you must be at least that age. If you are under 18, please get a parent's or guardian's consent first. The same applies to author applications. If we learn that someone under the minimum age is using the Service, we may delete the account.
16. How we protect your information
(Basic policy) We have set out this policy to handle personal information properly. (Rules for handling) We have decided who handles information and how at each stage: collection, use, storage, sharing and deletion. (Organizational measures) We have assigned a person responsible for personal information and set procedures for reporting leaks or suspected leaks. (Human measures) Everyone who handles personal information is required to keep it confidential and handle it properly. (Physical measures) We protect the devices used to run the Service from loss and theft and prevent others from seeing their screens. (Technical measures) Connections are encrypted, and admin functions are limited to a small number of operators. Login uses password-free email links, and the number of login emails is limited. Photos are served only to logged-in users, and ID documents only to the operator. (Understanding the external environment) Because we handle personal information in the United States, we take measures based on our understanding of US law described in section 10.
17. If a leak occurs
If personal information is leaked or may have been leaked, we will act immediately to limit the damage, report to Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission as required by law, and notify the people affected.
18. Your requests
You can ask us to tell you how we use your personal information, disclose it, correct, add to or delete it, stop using or erase it, stop sharing it with third parties, and disclose records of sharing with third parties. You can do much of this yourself in Settings (changing your display name, exporting your records, deleting your account). For anything else, please contact us below. We will respond without delay after confirming your identity. There is no fee.
19. Complaints and questions
We accept complaints and questions about how we handle personal information at:
Our contact point is being set up and will be posted here soon.
20. Changes to this policy
We may change this policy when laws or the Service change. We will announce changes on this page, and important changes will also be announced in the app before they take effect.
Operator: JUNCTION
Effective: Sep 19, 2026