What we collect
| Data | When | Why | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email address | Only if you submit the waitlist form | To tell you when the shop opens | Until you ask us to delete it |
| Which page you signed up from | With a waitlist submission | To learn which guides bring interest | With the email record |
| Timestamp | With a waitlist submission | Ordering and de-duplication | With the email record |
| Your message, email address and chosen topic | Only if you submit the contact form | To read and reply to you | Until the matter is closed, then deleted on request |
| Usage data (pages, device, approximate location) | Every visit, via Google Analytics | To see which content is read | By Google, per their retention settings |
| IP address | In automatic web-server request logs | Operating and securing the server | Rotating logs, overwritten automatically |
We do not collect postal addresses, payment details or account credentials, because nothing on this site asks for them — there is no login, no cart and no checkout. A name is requested only on the contact form, and it is optional.
The waitlist
The waitlist form stores three fields: your email address, a short label for the page you submitted it from, and the time of submission. That record is written to a file on our own server in Japan. It is not sent to a third-party mailing platform, because we have not connected one.
We deliberately do not store your IP address or user-agent string with that record. Your IP is used briefly and only in memory, to limit how many times the form can be submitted per minute; it is never written to the waitlist file.
We will use your address for one thing: to tell you when the shop opens, and occasionally about the guides. We will not sell it, rent it, or pass it to anyone else. Ask us and we will delete it.
Legal basis (EEA/UK visitors): consent, given by submitting the form. You may withdraw it at any time by asking us to delete the record.
The contact form
We do not publish an email address. The contact form is the only way to message us, and it stores exactly what you typed: your message, your email address, the topic you selected, the page you were on when you opened the form, your name if you gave one (it is optional), and the time.
As with the waitlist, we do not store your IP address or user-agent with that record. Your IP is used only in memory, briefly, to limit how often the form can be submitted.
The record is written to a file on our own server in Japan. It is not routed through a helpdesk platform, a CRM or a third-party form service. We use your email address for one thing: replying to you.
Legal basis (EEA/UK visitors): consent, given by submitting the form — and, for the reply itself, our legitimate interest in answering the question you asked us. Ask us and we will delete the whole exchange.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4 to count visits and see which guides get read. It tells us things like which pages are popular, roughly which country a visit came from, and whether it was a phone or a desktop. It does not tell us who you are, and we never combine it with a waitlist email.
Google Analytics is provided by Google and Google acts as our data processor for it. Google may set cookies in your browser and may process data outside your country. Their handling is governed by Google's own privacy terms.
If you would rather not be counted, you can block analytics with a browser extension or your browser's tracking protection, or install Google's official opt-out add-on. Blocking it does not affect anything on this site — nothing here depends on analytics running.
Server logs
Like every website, our web server records each request it receives. Those entries can include your IP address, the URL requested, the time, and your browser's user-agent string. This is standard operational logging: it is how a server is debugged and how abuse is spotted.
These logs rotate automatically and old entries are overwritten. We do not use them to build a profile of you, and we do not combine them with waitlist records.
Cookies
We set no cookies of our own. There is no login, no session, no preference storage and no advertising on this site.
Google Analytics may set its own cookies to distinguish one visit from another. Those are the only cookies you should see from this domain. If you block them, the site works exactly the same.
Who we share data with
- Google — analytics data, as described above.
- Our hosting provider — our server runs on a virtual private server in Japan; the provider necessarily handles traffic to reach it.
- Brevo — when you submit the contact form or the waitlist, our server sends a notification to our own inbox through Brevo, a transactional email provider. Your message and email address pass through it in order to reach us. Brevo is not used to send you marketing, and your address is not added to any mailing list there.
That is the complete list. No advertising networks, no data brokers, no marketing automation, no form or helpdesk service, no affiliate networks. If we add a service that changes this — a mailing platform when the shop opens, or a payment processor — this page will be updated before it goes live.
Your rights
Depending on where you live — this applies in full under the GDPR in the EEA, and comparable rights exist in the UK, Japan and several US states — you can ask us to:
- Tell you what data we hold about you
- Give you a copy of it
- Correct it
- Delete it
- Stop using it
In practice, for almost everyone reading this, the honest answer to “what do you hold about me?” is nothing, unless you joined the waitlist — in which case it is one line containing your email address, a page name and a date.
To exercise any of these, use the contact form and choose “My data”. We will act on deletion requests without asking why.
Children
This site is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. Japanese kitchen knives are not a product for children, and neither is this site.
Changes to this policy
When the shop opens we will need to add sections on orders, payment and shipping. When that happens this page will be updated and the date at the top will change. We will not quietly broaden what we collect and leave the date alone.
This policy was last updated on 2 August 2026.