Last Updated: September 20, 2022
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
- How We Use Your Information
- Sharing Your Information
- Accessing and Correcting Your Information
- Data Security
- Links to Third-Party Sites
- Children Under the Age of 13
- Geographic Restrictions
- Changes to Our Privacy Policy
- Disclosure, Correction, Suspension of Use, or Deletion of Personal Information
Introduction
Associated Kyoto Program (“AKP”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy as well as Japan’s Act on the Protection of Personal Information (“Personal Information Protection Act”). This policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit AKP’s website (the “Website”), its online application portal (the “Portal”), or during your participation in its online language partner program (the “Online Exchange”), its study abroad program (the “Program”), the Doshisha Visiting Fellowship (the “DVF”), or the Visiting Faculty Fellowship (the “VFF”). This policy also describes our practices for using, maintaining, protecting, and sharing that information.
Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
We collect several types of personal and non-personal information from and about users of our Website and participants in our programs.
Based on Article 2 of the Personal Information Protection Act, personal information is information regarding a living individual that may include information that can be easily cross-checked to identify a specific individual or may include personal identification numbers and codes. Some examples of personal information we collect include:
| Category | Examples |
| Identifiers | Name, postal address, email address, passport number |
| Customer records information | Name, signature, address, telephone number, health insurance information, medical information |
| Classifications | Gender, race, age, nationality, citizenship |
| Biometric Information | Height |
| Professional or employment-related information | Relevant work history, if any |
| Education information | Undergraduate institution, grades |
Information You Provide to Us
The information we collect may include:
- Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website or through our Portal such as name, address, email address, gender, and age.
- If you are a California resident, note that we will never ask for the name you use in your personal social media.
- Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.
- Any other information you voluntarily disclose to AKP that would help us improve your program experience or our services.
Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies
As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:
- Details of your visits to our Website, including location data and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website.
- Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.
The information we collect automatically is only statistical data and does not include information, such as your username or address, by which you may be personally identified. Thus, we understand that automatically collected information such as location data and IP address to be classified as non-personal information. Automatically collecting information helps us to improve our Website and deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:
- Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
- Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Website according to your individual interests.
- Speed up your searches.
- Recognize you when you return to our Website.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:
- Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.
- Web beacons. Pages of our Website may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit AKP, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or for other related website statistics.
AKP does not use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking). AKP does not process or respond to “Do Not Track” signals, which are related to behavioral tracking of online behavior.
Users of AKP’s Website should be aware that this Website contains embedded content, such as YouTube videos or GoogleMaps, which are hosted by third parties on third party websites. Such embedded content may contain cookies or other automatic data technologies that identify you by username or are used for purposes of behavioral tracking. AKP does not collect or receive information from these third-party cookies or engage in behavioral tracking, but does not guarantee that your use of the Website will not result in third parties automatically collecting data, which may include personal information, about you.
How We Use Your Information
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:
- To present our Website, the Portal, the Online Exchange, the Program, the DVF, the VFF and their contents to you.
- To provide you with information regarding the Program, the DVF, the VFF, the Online Exchange and any other services that you request from us.
- To notify you about changes to the Website, the Portal, the Online Exchange, or any products or services we offer or provide though the Program, the DVF, or the VFF.
- To allow you to participate in interactive features on the Online Exchange, such as by matching you with your language partner or contacting you about the Online Exchange.
- To enforce the terms and conditions of any agreement between you and AKP.
- To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it, such as using the nickname you provide to us on a nametag.
- In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
- For any other purpose with your consent.
We do not and will not sell your personal information.
Sharing Your Information
We may share without restriction aggregated information about our users and information that does not identify any individual.
In addition to sharing information internally for the purposes of facilitating your participation in our programs or fellowships, we may share personal information that we collect or you provide with third parties as described in this privacy policy:
| Third Parties | Purpose of Sharing Information | Examples of Information Shared |
| Doshisha University (the Host Institution) | For the purposes of facilitating your participation in the Program, the DVF, or the VFF, including the application of your Certificate of Eligibility, the processing of enrollment or visiting faculty affiliations, etc. | Name, intended length of stay in Japan, address in Japan, passport information, purpose of entry to Japan, other information as required for your Certificate of Eligibility application or Doshisha and AKP Visiting Faculty affiliation. |
| Pomona College (School of Record) | For the purposes of processing your transcript | Name, name of home institution, date of birth, sex, nationality, home address, telephone number, email address, courses taken at AKP, grades, etc. |
| Pomona College (the AKP Consortium Institution currently hosting the AKP US Office) | For the purposes of processing student application fees, postage, or other administrative matters | Name, address, email address, etc. |
| Home Institution (the U.S. college at which you are currently enrolled or employed) | For the purpose of promoting AKP, providing updates on the status of your application, providing updates during an emergency, and facilitating your participation in the Program, the DVF, or the VFF | Name, address, telephone number, email address, updates on your progress on AKP (including academic issues and health and safety matters), etc. |
| Contractors, service providers, and other third parties* that work with, or on behalf of, AKP to provide products and services or otherwise assist in AKP’s operations. (our application portal service provider, homestay families, hotels, health insurance providers, etc.) | For the purpose of facilitating your application, enrollment, and participation in the Program, the DVF, or the VFF | Name, address, email address, passport information, etc. |
When sharing personal information with the third parties listed above, AKP will act as the entity responsible for managing the data and will facilitate the processing of any related data management requests.
We may also share your personal information:
- For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
- With your consent.
- To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
- To enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes.
- If we believe sharing it is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of AKP, our student participants, or others.
- To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of AKP’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by AKP about our student participants and/or Website users is among the assets transferred.
Accessing and Correcting Your Information
You can review and change certain information you have provided, such as your name, address, passport information, etc. by contacting info@associatedkyotoprogram.org. If you seek disclosure or correction under the Personal Information Protection Act, please see below.
Data Security
The security of your personal information is important to AKP. We have implemented reasonable administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect the personal information AKP receives from users of its Website and Portal, as well as other personal information on AKP’s servers. We require third parties with whom we share personal information to adopt similar precautions to protect personal information.
The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of the Online Exchange or the Program, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.
Links to Third-Party Sites
AKP may occasionally provide links to other entities’ websites for your convenience in locating related information, services, and products. When you follow links to other websites, please remember that you are leaving AKP’s Website and that these websites are maintained by organizations that AKP does not control. AKP is not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party sites.
Children Under the Age of 13
AKP understands the importance of protecting children’s privacy in an interactive online world. The AKP Website is not designed for or intentionally targeted at children under thirteen (13) years of age, nor is it AKP’s policy to intentionally collect information about anyone under the age of thirteen (13). No one under the age of thirteen (13) should submit any personal information to AKP through its Website or other channels.
Geographic Restrictions
The Website, Portal, and Online Exchange are intended to be accessed by individuals residing in the United States of America or the nation of Japan. It is not intended to collect data from, and should not be utilized by, individuals residing in the European Economic Area.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
We may amend this policy from time to time. The date the privacy policy was last modified is identified above. If we make material changes to how we treat your personal information, we will notify you through a notice on the Website home page.
Disclosure, Correction, Suspension of Use, or Deletion of Personal Information
When we receive a request from a user for disclosure, correction, suspension of use, or deletion of personal information, we will respond without delay to the requests based on the provisions of the Personal Information Protection Act, after confirming that the request is from the user. However, this does not apply in cases where, in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act or other laws and regulations, we do not have obligations in relation to the requested content.
If you have any questions about AKP’s Privacy Policy or related requests, please contact us at our email address info@associatedkyotoprogram.org, telephone number (909) 621-8884, or by writing to us at the address below:
Associated Kyoto Program Pomona College, Mason Hall 236 550 N. Harvard Ave. Claremont, CA 91711