Terms of Use

Article 1 (Application)

1. These Terms shall apply to all relationships relating to the use of the Service between users and the Site Operator.
2. In addition to these Terms, the Site Operator may establish a Privacy Policy, copyright notices, and other individual provisions (hereinafter referred to as the "Individual Provisions").
3. The Individual Provisions shall constitute a part of these Terms.
4. In the event of any inconsistency between these Terms and the Individual Provisions, the Individual Provisions shall prevail.

Article 2 (Definitions)

1. "User" means any person who views, uses, submits content to, contacts, or otherwise uses the Service.
2. "Submitted Data" means any and all information transmitted, submitted, or uploaded by a user to the Service, including text, images, comments, and inquiry details.
3. "Site Content" means any and all information published or distributed through the Service, including articles, headlines, text, photographs, images, videos, logos, designs, and data.

Article 3 (Content of the Service)

1. The Service consists of the distribution of news, commentary, feature content, regional information, translated articles, images, and other related information.
2. The Service may include a Japanese-language version, an English-language version, and other multilingual versions or region-specific pages.
3. The Site Operator may freely add to, modify, suspend, or terminate all or part of the content, structure, functions, URLs, or any other aspects of the Service.

Article 4 (Conditions of Use)

1. Users shall use the Service at their own responsibility.
2. Users must use the Service in accordance with these Terms, the Individual Provisions, applicable laws and regulations, and public order and morals.
3. If a user is a minor, such user shall obtain the consent of a parent or other legal representative to the extent necessary.

Article 5 (Prohibited Acts)

In using the Service, users shall not engage in any of the following acts:

1. Acts that violate laws and regulations or public order and morals
2. Criminal acts or acts that encourage criminal conduct
3. Dissemination of false information, impersonation, or acts that cause misunderstanding
4. Acts that infringe the rights, interests, reputation, or privacy of the Site Operator, other users, or third parties
5. Acts of reproducing, republishing, publicly transmitting, altering, distributing, or selling the Site Content without authorization
6. Acts of mass acquisition of the Service or the Site Content through scraping, crawling, robots, or other automated means
7. Acts of using the Site Content for AI training, dataset creation, input into machine learning models, or any other method not authorized by the Site Operator
8. Acts that impose an excessive burden on the servers, networks, or systems of the Service
9. Unauthorized access, alteration, reverse engineering, or any similar acts
10. Acts of using the Service for spam, advertising, solicitation, sales, or any purpose other than its intended purpose
11. Defamation, discrimination, threats, harassment, obscene expression, violent expression, or any other inappropriate acts
12. Acts that interfere with the Site Operator's operations
13. Any other acts that the Site Operator deems inappropriate

Article 6 (Intellectual Property Rights)

1. All copyrights, trademark rights, and any and all other intellectual property rights relating to the Site Content shall belong to the Site Operator or the legitimate rights holders.
2. Except for private use and other cases permitted by law, users shall not use the Site Content without the permission of the rights holders.
3. Unauthorized republication, unauthorized reproduction, alteration, commercial use, and other similar acts with respect to the Site Content are prohibited.

Article 7 (Quotation and Republishing)

1. If a user quotes the Site Content, such quotation shall be made in accordance with copyright law and other applicable laws and regulations, and within the scope of lawful quotation.
2. In making a quotation, the source must be indicated and the quoted portion must be clearly distinguished from the other portions.
3. Republishing the full text of an article or substantially all of it, unauthorized republication of images, and any other use deemed inappropriate by the Site Operator are prohibited.
4. If a user wishes to make use of the Site Content beyond the scope of quotation, the user must obtain the prior permission of the Site Operator.

Article 8 (Links)

1. Links to the Site are, in principle, freely permitted.
2. However, links falling under any of the following categories are prohibited:
   1. Links from sites containing illegal content or content contrary to public order and morals
   2. Links that may harm the credibility of the Site Operator or any third party
   3. Links displayed within frames or by other methods that make it unclear that the content belongs to the Site
   4. Links that may cause misunderstanding that there is a partnership or other relationship with the Site Operator
3. Even where the Site contains links to third-party sites, the Site Operator shall not be responsible for the content of such linked sites.

Article 9 (Advertisements and External Services)

1. The Service may include advertisements, embedded content, and other external services provided by third parties.
2. The Site Operator does not guarantee, and shall not be responsible for, any products, services, information, or other matters provided by advertisers, external service providers, or other third parties.

Article 10 (Modification, Suspension, and Termination of the Service)

1. The Site Operator may add to, modify, suspend, or terminate all or part of the Service without prior notice to users.
2. The Site Operator shall not be liable for any damages incurred by users as a result of any modification, suspension, or termination under this Article.

Article 11 (Disclaimer)

1. The Site Operator does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, usefulness, safety, or any other aspect of the Service or the Site Content.
2. Users shall use the Service based on their own judgment and responsibility, and the Site Operator shall not be liable for any judgments, actions, or any other results based on the Site Content.
3. The Site Operator shall not be liable for any damages incurred by users or third parties due to the use or inability to use the Service, except where such damages are caused by the intentional misconduct or gross negligence of the Site Operator.
4. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply only to the extent permitted by applicable law.

Article 12 (Measures in the Event of Violation of the Terms)

If a user violates these Terms or the Individual Provisions, the Site Operator may, without prior notice, take any of the following measures:

• Deletion of Submitted Data or suspension of its publication
• Restriction of use
• Blocking of access
• Legal action or any other necessary measures

Article 13 (Amendments to these Terms)

1. If the Site Operator deems it necessary, it may amend these Terms without prior notice to users.
2. The amended Terms shall become effective from the time they are posted on the Service.
3. If a user uses the Service after the amendment, such user shall be deemed to have agreed to the amended Terms.
4. Where applicable law requires notice to users, obtaining consent, or any other procedures, such requirements shall be followed in accordance with such law.

Article 14 (Severability)

Even if any provision of these Terms or any part thereof is found to be invalid or unenforceable under laws and regulations, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

Article 15 (Region-Specific Governing Law and Dispute Resolution)

1. These Terms and the use of the Service shall be interpreted in accordance with the laws applicable to the user's place of residence and any other applicable laws and regulations.
2. Residents of Japan
   These Terms and the use of the Service shall be governed by the laws of Japan. In the event of any dispute between the Site Operator and a user in connection with these Terms or the Service, the Tokyo District Court shall have exclusive agreed jurisdiction as the court of first instance.
3. Residents of the EEA and the United Kingdom
   Nothing in these Terms shall limit any rights granted to such users under mandatory consumer protection laws applicable in their place of residence. In the event of any dispute in connection with these Terms or the Service, the governing law and jurisdiction shall be determined in accordance with such laws.
4. Residents of the United States
   Nothing in these Terms shall limit any rights granted to users under applicable federal or state law. In the event of any dispute in connection with these Terms or the Service, the governing law and jurisdiction shall be determined in accordance with applicable law.
5. Residents of Other Regions
   Nothing in these Terms shall limit any rights granted to users under mandatory laws applicable in their respective regions. In the event of any dispute in connection with these Terms or the Service, the governing law and jurisdiction shall be determined in accordance with applicable law.

Article 16 (Contact)