Terms of Service

1. Who we are, and what these terms cover

Ukiyoe Japanese (ukiyoe-japanese.com, the “Service”) is a Japanese-learning app operated by Catalyst Inc. (株式会社カタリスト), Tokyo, Japan (“we”, “us”). By creating an account or using the Service you agree to these Terms of Service, the Community Guidelines and the Privacy Policy.

2. Who may use the Service

You must be at least 13 years old. If you are under the age of digital consent in your country, you may use the Service only with a parent's or guardian's permission.

3. Your account

Keep your sign-in credentials safe: you are responsible for activity under your account. You can delete your account at any time from the Account page; deletion is immediate and permanent.

4. Plans, payment and fair-use limits

Core lessons, reviews and kana are free. Ukiyoe Pro is a paid subscription (currently $6/month at the founding member price — regular $9.99/month — or $49.99/year, billed by Stripe) that unlocks unlimited practice, every JLPT mock exam and a larger daily AI conversation limit.

Subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel; you can cancel at any time from Manage subscription and keep Pro until the end of the period you have paid for. We will tell you in the app at least 30 days before any price change takes effect. If Pro is not for you, tell us within 14 days of your first charge and we will refund it in full — no questions asked. After that, payments are non-refundable except where the consumer law that applies to you requires a refund, in which case we will follow it.

Some features that cost us money per use — such as AI conversation practice and pronunciation scoring — have daily limits, which may differ for signed-out, free and Pro users, and may change as we tune the Service.

We may modify, suspend or discontinue features. We aim to give notice of significant changes but cannot guarantee uninterrupted availability.

If you live in the EU, the EEA or the UK, you also have a statutory right to withdraw from your subscription within 14 days of entering into it, without giving a reason. You can do this from the “Withdraw from contract” link on your Account page, or by emailing info@ukiyoe-japanese.com — no particular form of words is needed. We will refund what you have paid, less a proportionate amount for the part of the subscription period already supplied to you before you withdrew, and we will confirm your withdrawal by email. This right is in addition to the 14-day refund above and to any other rights your local consumer law gives you.

5. Learning content

Lessons, example sentences, audio and artwork in the Service belong to us or our licensors. You may use them for your personal learning, not for redistribution or commercial use. We work hard on the accuracy of the Japanese, but the Service is a learning aid, not professional advice — if something looks wrong, please flag it in the app.

6. Your content

You keep ownership of posts and comments you write. You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide license to host and display them within the Service so the community features work. Your content must follow the Community Guidelines; we may hide or remove content that does not, and suspend accounts for repeated or serious violations.

7. AI features

Conversation replies, corrections and pronunciation scores are generated by AI. They are usually helpful but can be wrong — treat them as practice feedback, not authoritative teaching. Don't use the AI features to generate content unrelated to language learning, and don't attempt to bypass usage limits or automate requests.

8. Acceptable use

Don't break the law, infringe others' rights, probe or disrupt the Service, scrape it, resell it, or attempt to access other users' data. We may suspend or terminate accounts that do.

9. Disclaimers and liability

The Service is provided “as is”, without warranties of any kind, to the extent permitted by law. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect or consequential damages arising from your use of the Service. For paid subscriptions, our total liability is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under the law of your country of residence, or excludes your mandatory consumer rights.

10. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Japan, and disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Tokyo District Court — except where the consumer-protection law of your country of residence gives you mandatory rights or a local venue, which these terms do not override.

11. Changes to these terms

If we change these terms in a meaningful way, we will announce it in the app before the change takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after that means you accept the new terms.

12. Contact

Questions about these terms: info@ukiyoe-japanese.com