STORYWALK 日本語 EN

STORYWALK Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026-09-18

These Terms set out the conditions for using the mobile application and website "STORYWALK" (the "Service"), provided by STORYWALK (Kiyochika Miyata) ("we", "us"). These Terms are standardised terms under Article 548-2 of the Civil Code of Japan and apply to everyone who uses the Service (each a "user").

The Service is meant to be used while actually walking outdoors. Please read Article 4, "Walking safely", before you set out.

This English text is provided for convenience. The Japanese version is the binding text and prevails in the event of any discrepancy (Article 16).

Article 1. What the Service does

The Service is a tool for listening to the history and stories of a place while walking through it. Its main features are:

Features, screens, story structure and covered regions may be added, changed or discontinued without notice.

Article 2. Prices and purchases

  1. The first chapter of every story is free. Chapters from the second onward are opened by purchasing the story. The price of each story is shown in the app.
  2. For some regions and sites, all chapters may be free of charge because a local government, site or business bears the cost. Such free provision may end, or cease to be free, when our contract with that party ends.
  3. Purchases are made as in-app purchases through Apple's App Store. Billing, receipts and decisions on refunds follow Apple's rules, and we abide by Apple's decisions.
  4. Purchased access is tied to that story at the moment the purchase completes and opens immediately. It cannot be held as a balance or points, transferred to another story, or exchanged for cash or any other property.
  5. Because of the nature of digital content, we cannot refund a purchase once delivery has begun. If you want a refund, please use Apple's refund process ("Report a Problem" in the App Store). If Apple notifies us of a refund or revocation, we will revoke access to that story.
  6. What you obtain by purchasing is a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to view and listen to that story within the Service. It is not a transfer of ownership or copyright in the content.
  7. Data charges, device battery, travel to the site and any admission or offering fees are your responsibility.
  8. Disclosures required under Japan's Act on Specified Commercial Transactions are set out in Schedule 1 at the end of these Terms.

Article 3. Device, account and minors

  1. The Service keeps your record under an anonymous identifier generated on your device the first time you open it, together with a device token we issue. No name, address or telephone number is required.
  2. Sign in with Apple is optional. When you sign in, the records and purchased access of several devices are bundled under one account and become visible after a device change or on a second device. Without signing in, the identifier may carry over to another iPhone on the same Apple Account if iCloud Keychain syncing is on; however, if the identifier is lost — the device is lost or reset, or the app is deleted — your record and purchased access may not be recoverable. We recommend signing in after a purchase to protect it.
  3. Do not let others use your device or identifier. Actions performed with your identifier or token are treated as your actions.
  4. If you are a minor, please use the Service with the consent of a parent or legal guardian, including consent to these Terms and to any purchase of paid content. If a user who was a minor continues to use the Service after reaching the age of majority, they are taken to have ratified the use and purchases made while a minor.

Article 4. Walking safely

The Service assumes you are actually moving outdoors. Moving outdoors carries risks we cannot control — falls, traffic accidents, heatstroke, sudden changes in weather. By heading to a chapter's location you agree that you are responsible for your own safety.

  1. Do not look at the screen while walking. You can listen while walking, but stop before you operate the screen.
  2. Headphones block the sounds around you. When crossing roads, at level crossings and station platforms, and on streets with bicycles and cars, lower the volume, take one earphone out, or pause playback. Do not operate the Service while driving a car, riding a bicycle or motorcycle, or operating any vehicle.
  3. Obey traffic laws. Signals, signs, the instructions of staff and your own safety always take precedence over the route line, the arrival chime or anything in the narration.
  4. The fact that a chapter's location appears in the Service does not mean that entering that place is safe or lawful. Chapter locations are set on the assumption that they can be reached from public roads or other places open to the public, but conditions change. Do not enter private property, restricted areas, sacred precincts that are closed to visitors, or temple and shrine grounds after closing.
  5. At shrines, temples, cemeteries and memorials, follow the local etiquette and rules. Where photography is prohibited, do not take photos. Do not disturb residents, worshippers or other visitors.
  6. Weather, disasters, construction, events, opening hours, night-time or snow may make a place unreachable or unwise to reach. Do not force it, and stop if you feel unwell.
  7. Location accuracy is limited. Pins on the map, route lines, distances and durations are estimates and do not indicate that a route is safe or passable.

Article 5. About the stories and generative AI

  1. Stories are built on published material from shrines, temples, local governments and museums, and on the literature — but the assessment of historical events, the inner life of the people in them and the depiction of scenes involve editorial interpretation and dramatisation. They are not academic writing and not the official position of any shrine, temple or local government.
  2. Historical sources admit of more than one reading, and accepted views change with new research. Do not rely on the narration as an academic citation, as journalism, or as the basis of a decision.
  3. Narration text, translations, spoken audio and Ask answers are produced with generative AI. Ask answers in particular are generated on the spot in response to your question and may contain errors, inaccuracies or inappropriate expressions. Use them at your own discretion and check anything important against other sources.
  4. If you find an error, please tell us through "Feedback / Contact" in the Service. We will review and endeavour to correct it, but we do not guarantee when or how.
  5. Stories and chapters may be changed or removed without notice because a site closes or suspends visits, a contract with a rights holder or local government ends, the content is revised, or for other reasons. If we remove or substantially change a story you have purchased, we will, so far as we are able, give advance notice through the announcements in the Service and take reasonable measures such as offering a substitute story.

Article 6. Prohibited use

You must not:

  1. Attempt to unlock a chapter without standing at the place — by using apps or devices that spoof or alter location, using another person's identifier or token, or sending a chapter's own coordinates as your position.
  2. Copy, record, re-publish, translate, distribute, sell, make public or transmit the narration text, audio, translations, images, map data or Ask answers of the Service, or harvest them mechanically for training AI models or any other purpose (beyond private use).
  3. Send large volumes of automated requests; analyse, decompile or reverse-engineer the Service; circumvent authentication, usage limits or payment; or access our servers or those of third parties without authorisation.
  4. Cause a nuisance to other users, third parties, residents, sites or worshippers, damage property on site, or enter places where entry is prohibited.
  5. Send questions or enquiries that infringe the rights of others or are unlawful or inappropriate.
  6. Act unlawfully or against public order and morals, or commit or risk committing a crime.
  7. Interfere with the operation of the Service, or harm the reputation of us or of third parties.

Article 7. Exclusion of organised crime

You represent that you are not a member of, and have no relationship with, an organised crime group (bōryokudan), its members or associates, affiliated companies, corporate racketeers, groups posing as social or political movements, special intelligence crime groups, or any equivalent (together, "anti-social forces"), and you undertake that this will remain so. If you breach this Article we may suspend your use or terminate the contract under these Terms without prior notice.

Article 8. What you submit

  1. The questions and enquiries you send are stored on our servers. See the Privacy Policy for details.
  2. You grant us permission to use the questions and enquiries you send to the extent necessary to provide, operate and improve the Service.
  3. You represent that you hold the rights necessary for what you submit and that it infringes no third party's rights. If a dispute arises with a third party, you will resolve it at your own responsibility and expense and compensate us for any loss we suffer.

Article 9. Intellectual property

  1. Copyright and other intellectual property rights in the narration text, audio, translations, screen design, story structure, database, software, trademarks and logos of the Service belong to us or to the rightful owners.
  2. Rights in quoted material and photographs remain with their respective owners; sources are listed in each story's colophon.
  3. You may not use the content of the Service beyond what these Terms expressly permit.

Article 10. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

  1. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, currency or fitness for a particular purpose of the content, or that the Service will be available without interruption or error. Location accuracy, network conditions, device performance and the state of external services (Apple, Google, generative-AI providers and others) may prevent unlocking, playback, recording or purchasing from working as expected.
  2. Except in cases of our wilful misconduct or gross negligence, we are not liable for accidents, injury, illness, loss, theft or disputes with third parties arising while you are travelling on site.
  3. Where we are liable to you for damages, our liability is limited to the direct and ordinary loss you actually suffered, up to the amount you actually paid for the story that gave rise to the loss (or JPY 1,000 if you were using the Service free of charge). This paragraph applies only where we have been slightly negligent; it does not apply where we have acted with wilful misconduct or gross negligence.
  4. Where the Consumer Contract Act of Japan or other mandatory law does not permit all or part of this Article, this Article does not apply to that extent, and our liability is limited to the extent the law allows.

Article 11. Suspension and deletion

  1. If you breach these Terms, or if we reasonably judge that you are likely to, we may suspend or restrict your use of the Service and delete what you have submitted or recorded, without prior notice. On devices where location spoofing or other cheating is detected, some or all of the Service may not function.
  2. Where suspension or restriction results from your material breach, no refund is given for content already purchased.
  3. Except in cases of our wilful misconduct or gross negligence, we are not liable for loss arising from suspension or restriction under this Article.
  4. You can delete your record or account at any time from "Delete my record" in the app. Deletion also removes purchased access and cannot be undone.

Article 12. Changes to, and end of, the Service

  1. We may change, suspend or discontinue all or part of the Service.
  2. If we discontinue the whole Service, including paid content, we will as a rule give notice through the announcements in the Service at least 30 days before the end date — except where prevented by natural disaster, the shutdown of an external service, legal requirements or other unavoidable circumstances.
  3. Except in cases of our wilful misconduct or gross negligence, we are not liable for loss arising from change, suspension or discontinuation.

Article 13. Changes to these Terms

  1. Under Article 548-4 of the Civil Code of Japan, we may change these Terms where: (1) the change is in the general interest of users; or (2) the change is consistent with the purpose of the contract and reasonable in light of its necessity, the appropriateness of the changed content and other circumstances.
  2. When we change these Terms we will publish the changed Terms and their effective date on this page and in the announcements in the Service before that date. For changes that are disadvantageous to users we will as a rule give notice at least 30 days before the effective date.
  3. The changed Terms apply from the effective date. Purchases completed before the change remain governed by the Terms in force at the time.

Article 14. Special provisions for the App Store

If you obtained the app from Apple's App Store, the following also apply.

  1. These Terms are concluded between you and us only, and not with Apple. The licence to the app is a non-transferable licence to use it on Apple-branded products that you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.
  2. We, not Apple, are responsible for maintaining and supporting the app. Apple has no obligation to furnish any maintenance or support services.
  3. If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any). To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the app.
  4. We, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claims by you or a third party relating to the app or your use of it, including product liability claims, claims that the app fails to conform to legal or regulatory requirements, and claims under consumer protection law. We are also responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement and discharge of any claim that the app infringes a third party's intellectual property rights.
  5. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a US Government embargo and are not on any US Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
  6. You must comply with applicable third-party terms (Apple, Google Maps and others) when using the app.
  7. Apple and Apple's subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance of these Terms Apple has the right to enforce them against you as a third-party beneficiary.

Article 15. Governing law and jurisdiction

  1. These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the law of Japan.
  2. Disputes concerning the Service are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction, in the first instance, of the Yokohama District Court, Japan.
  3. If you are a consumer residing outside Japan and mandatory consumer-protection provisions of the law of your country of residence apply and cannot be excluded by agreement, nothing in these Terms prevents those provisions from applying.

Article 16. Language

The Japanese text of these Terms is the binding version. Translations into English or other languages are provided for convenience; where a translation and the Japanese text differ, the Japanese text prevails.

Article 17. Miscellaneous

  1. If any part of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remainder continues in effect.
  2. Articles 5, 8, 9, 10, 11(2)–(3) and 14 to 17 survive termination of the contract.
  3. We give notice to users through the announcements in the Service, by posting on this page, or by email to an address you have voluntarily provided.

Article 18. Contact

Please use "Feedback / Contact" in the Service, or the details below.

Schedule 1. Disclosures under the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions (Japan)

Item Details
Seller STORYWALK (Kiyochika Miyata)
Person responsible Kiyochika Miyata
Address Chigasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (full address disclosed without delay on request)
Telephone Disclosed without delay on request. Enquiries are accepted by the email below or through "Feedback / Contact" in the app
Contact support@storywalk.jp
Price The price shown on each story's purchase screen (tax included)
Costs other than the price Data charges, travel to the site, admission and offering fees
Payment method and timing In-app purchase through Apple's App Store; charged at the time Apple determines
Delivery The story opens immediately after payment completes
Returns and cancellation Because of the nature of digital content, no refund is given once delivery has begun. For refunds, please use Apple's refund process
System requirements An iPhone running the iOS version stated on the Service's App Store page or later; location services and an internet connection are required

Established: 18 September 2026

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