Privacy Policy

Alva Japan Tours (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is operated by AlvaJapan LLC. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, store, and protect personal information when you visit or use our website at https://tours.alvajapan.com and related booking, payment, inquiry, newsletter, marketing, and customer support services collectively, the “Site”.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using our Site, making a booking, submitting an inquiry, subscribing to our updates, or otherwise providing personal information to us, you acknowledge that your personal information will be handled as described in this Privacy Policy.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect the following categories of information, depending on how you use our Site and services.

a. Contact Information

We may collect information such as your name, email address, telephone number, and any other contact details you provide when you make a booking, submit an inquiry, contact us, or subscribe to our updates.

b. Booking and Participant Information

When you make a booking or participate in a tour or experience, we may collect information such as:

• booking details;

• tour name, date, time, and number of participants;

• participant names;

• country or region of residence;

• language preferences;

• age or age confirmation, where relevant;

• special requests;

• accommodation or hotel information, where necessary for certain tours, pickup arrangements, or customer support;

• other information you voluntarily provide in connection with your booking.

c. Health, Allergy, Dietary, and Accessibility Information

For certain tours or experiences, we may collect information that you voluntarily provide, such as allergies, dietary restrictions, medical conditions, mobility needs, accessibility requirements, or other information necessary to safely and appropriately operate the tour.

We collect and use this information only where necessary for tour operation, safety, accommodation of requests, customer support, or related purposes.

d. Emergency and Safety-Related Information

For certain tours or experiences, we may ask for emergency contact information or other safety-related information where reasonably necessary for tour operation, risk management, or participant safety.

e. Payment-Related Information

Payments made through our Site are processed by third-party payment service providers, such as Stripe, PayPal, Amazon Pay, or other payment methods made available at checkout.

We do not directly store full credit card numbers or full payment card details on our own servers. However, we may receive and store limited payment-related information, such as payment status, transaction ID, payment amount, currency, payment date, refund status, chargeback-related information, and other information necessary for booking management, accounting, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, and customer support.

f. Inquiry and Communication Information

When you contact us, we may collect the content of your inquiry or communication, including messages, requests, feedback, attachments, and related correspondence.

g. Marketing and Newsletter Information

If you subscribe to our newsletter or marketing communications, we may collect your email address, subscription preferences, communication history, and engagement information such as whether emails were opened or links were clicked, where technically available.

h. Technical and Usage Information

When you access or use the Site, we may automatically collect certain technical and usage information, such as:

• IP address;

• browser type and version;

• device type;

• operating system;

• pages viewed;

• referring URLs;

• access times;

• approximate location derived from technical information;

• cookies and similar tracking technologies;

• interactions with the Site.

2. How We Use Your Information

We may use personal information for the following purposes:

a. to operate, provide, maintain, and improve the Site;
b. to process, confirm, manage, and fulfill bookings;
c. to process payments, refunds, cancellations, and chargebacks;
d. to communicate with you about bookings, inquiries, schedule changes, meeting points, customer support, and important service-related matters;
e. to operate tours and experiences safely and appropriately;
f. to share necessary information with guides, partner facilities, restaurants, activity providers, transportation providers, ticket providers, contractors, and other service providers involved in operating your tour;
g. to respond to inquiries, requests, complaints, and feedback;
h. to manage allergies, dietary restrictions, accessibility needs, special requests, and safety-related matters;
i. to prevent fraud, unauthorized payments, misuse of the Site, and other unlawful or harmful activity;
j. to analyze usage of the Site and improve our services, content, user experience, and marketing;
k. to send newsletters, promotional emails, travel tips, special offers, new tour updates, and other marketing communications, where permitted by applicable law or with your consent where required;
l. to comply with legal, regulatory, accounting, tax, and internal record-keeping obligations;
m. to protect the rights, property, safety, and security of Alva Japan Tours, our users, participants, guides, staff, partners, and third parties.

3. Payments and Payment Service Providers

We use third-party payment service providers, such as Stripe, PayPal, Amazon Pay, or other payment methods made available at checkout, to process payments.

When you make a payment through our Site, your payment information is provided directly to the relevant payment service provider. The processing of your payment information by such providers is subject to their own terms and privacy policies.

We may receive limited payment-related information from payment service providers for booking confirmation, accounting, fraud prevention, refund processing, chargeback management, customer support, and legal compliance.

4. Sharing of Information

We may share personal information with third parties in the following circumstances.

a. Guides and Tour Operation Partners

We may share necessary booking and participant information with guides, partner facilities, restaurants, shops, activity providers, transportation providers, ticket providers, contractors, and other service providers involved in operating or supporting your tour or experience.

This may include information such as your name, booking details, participant count, tour date and time, language preferences, allergies, dietary restrictions, accessibility needs, special requests, accommodation information where relevant, and other information necessary to operate the tour.

b. Service Providers

We may share information with third-party service providers that support our business, including providers of payment processing, website hosting, data analysis, customer support, email delivery, newsletter distribution, marketing, security, booking management, and other operational services.

These service providers are authorized to use personal information only as necessary to provide services to us, subject to applicable contractual and legal obligations.

c. Legal Compliance and Protection of Rights

We may disclose personal information where we believe it is necessary or appropriate to:

• comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, or governmental requests;

• enforce our Terms of Use or other policies;

• detect, prevent, or address fraud, security, or technical issues;

• protect the rights, property, safety, or security of Alva Japan Tours, our users, participants, guides, staff, partners, or third parties.

d. Business Transfers

If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, reorganization, business transfer, sale of assets, financing, or similar transaction, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.

e. With Your Consent

We may share personal information with third parties where you have given us your consent or instructed us to do so.

5. Cookies, Analytics, and Advertising Technologies

We may use cookies, web beacons, pixels, tags, and similar technologies to operate the Site, remember preferences, analyze usage, improve services, measure marketing performance, and provide a better user experience.

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. Similar technologies, such as pixels and tags, may be used to collect information about your interactions with the Site.

We may use the following types of cookies and similar technologies:

a. Essential Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the Site to function properly, including booking, checkout, security, fraud prevention, and basic website operations.

b. Analytics Cookies

These cookies help us understand how visitors use the Site, including which pages are visited, how users navigate the Site, and how we can improve our services.

We use Google Analytics to understand how users interact with the Site. Google Analytics may collect information such as pages visited, time spent on pages, referring websites, browser information, device information, IP address, and other usage data through cookies and similar technologies.

Google’s use of information collected through Google Analytics is governed by Google’s own terms and privacy policies.

c. Functional Cookies

These cookies help remember your preferences, such as language, currency, or other display settings, where applicable.

d. Marketing and Advertising Cookies

In the future, we may use cookies, pixels, tags, and similar technologies to measure marketing performance, deliver relevant advertisements, or conduct remarketing activities.

Where required by applicable law, we will obtain consent or provide appropriate notice before using such technologies.

You can usually control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the Site, including booking and checkout features.

You may also be able to opt out of Google Analytics by using tools provided by Google, such as the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

6. International Transfers and Overseas Processing

Some of our service providers, such as payment processors, analytics providers, email delivery providers, hosting providers, and other technology partners, may process or store personal information in countries or regions outside Japan.

When personal information is transferred, processed, or stored outside Japan, we will take appropriate measures in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Depending on your location, your personal information may be subject to data protection laws that differ from those in your country or region.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including booking management, customer support, tour operation, payment processing, accounting, tax, legal compliance, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, and internal record-keeping purposes.

When personal information is no longer necessary, we will delete, anonymize, or otherwise handle it in accordance with our internal procedures and applicable law.

8. Security of Your Information

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

However, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Payment information is processed by third-party payment service providers using their own security measures. We do not directly store full payment card details on our own servers.

9. Marketing Communications

We may use your email address to send newsletters, promotional emails, special offers, travel tips, new tour updates, and other marketing communications.

You may unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in our emails or by contacting us.

Even if you unsubscribe from marketing communications, we may still send you non-marketing communications that are necessary for your booking, payment, customer support, safety notices, legal notices, or other important service-related purposes.

10. Children and Minors

Our services are not directed to children.

If a minor uses our services, the booking must be made by or with the consent of a parent or legal guardian where required.

Certain tours or experiences may have age restrictions. For example, tours involving alcohol may require participants to be at least 20 years old, which is the legal drinking age in Japan. Such conditions will be stated on the relevant tour page where applicable.

11. Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to request:

a. disclosure or access to your personal information;
b. correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal information;
c. deletion of your personal information;
d. suspension of use of your personal information;
e. suspension of third-party provision of your personal information;
f. disclosure of records of third-party provision;
g. withdrawal of consent for marketing communications.

Depending on your location, you may have additional rights under applicable data protection laws.

To exercise your rights, please contact us using the contact information below. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request. We will respond to requests in accordance with applicable law.

Please note that we may be unable to delete or stop using certain information where retention or use is necessary for legal, accounting, tax, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, booking management, or other legitimate business purposes permitted by applicable law.

12. Third-Party Links and Services

The Site may contain links to third-party websites, maps, social media platforms, payment services, external booking-related tools, or other external services that are not operated or controlled by us.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, terms, or security of such third parties.

We encourage you to review the privacy policies and terms of any third-party websites or services you use.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, technologies, legal requirements, or business practices.

When we update this Privacy Policy, we will revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. The latest version of the Privacy Policy will be posted on the Site.

Your continued use of the Site after any update constitutes your acknowledgment of the updated Privacy Policy.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions, comments, requests, or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our handling of personal information, please contact us at:

Alva Japan Tours
Operated by AlvaJapan LLC
Email: contact@alvajapan.com
Website: https://tours.alvajapan.com