Who is responsible
WebAnchor, a web design studio based in Osaka, Japan, is responsible for the personal information described here (the "business operator" under Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information, and the "controller" under the EU and UK GDPR). Contact: webanchor.agency@gmail.com. WebAnchor is the trade name (屋号) of 柳澤 昌太 (Shota Yanagisawa), a sole proprietor based in Osaka, Japan. Our business address is provided without delay on request (see our commercial disclosure).
What we collect
Information you give us. When you contact us through the form on this site, book a call, or write to us by email or through Instagram, we receive what you choose to send, such as:
- your name and business name;
- your email address;
- your type of business, what you need, and your current website address;
- anything you write in your message;
- if you book a call, the time you chose and your time zone.
If you become a client, we also keep the project details, files and content you send us, and the billing information needed to invoice you.
Information collected automatically. We don't use advertising or advertising cookies. We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site: the pages you view, how you arrived (for example, from a search or a link), your approximate location (country and city), your device and browser, and whether you sent our contact form or booked a call. It uses cookies, and it never receives what you type into our forms. In the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland it only runs if you agree; everywhere else you can turn it off at any time. The details, and the switch, are in our Cookie Policy.
When you load the site, the company hosting it (Cloudflare) and Google Fonts receive standard technical information (such as your IP address, browser type and the page requested) so they can deliver the files. To keep the site and its forms safe from spam and attacks:
- when you send a form, Cloudflare Turnstile checks that a real person is sending it. It looks at technical signals from your browser and connection, such as your IP address and browser details. We only receive a pass or fail result;
- Cloudflare keeps short-lived security logs of requests to our forms (such as the time, the form used and any error), which may include your IP address;
- when you book a call, we keep a scrambled, one-way version (a hash) of your IP address, only to limit how many calls one connection can book in a day.
See our Cookie Policy for the small settings stored in your browser.
Concept demos don't send anything to us. Anything typed into a demo stays in your browser and disappears when you close it.
Sales partners
If you sign our Commission Sales Agreement to introduce clients to us, we collect:
- your full legal name, email address, phone number and home address;
- your country of residence and how you'd like to be paid (Wise, or a bank transfer if you live in Japan);
- your preferred partner id and your typed signature;
- when you signed, which version of the agreement you signed, and the IP address, approximate country and device (browser) you signed from, as proof of the signature.
After we approve you, we ask for your payout account details by email. Please don't send them through the form.
We use this to review your application, keep proof that you agreed and when, contact you, pay your commissions, and keep the records Japanese tax law requires (legal basis under GDPR: performance of a contract and legal obligation). Your signed agreement is stored by Cloudflare (our website host) and a copy is emailed to our Gmail inbox (Google). Your payout details are shared only with Wise or our bank in Japan, to send your payments.
How we use it
We use your information only to:
- reply to your enquiry and prepare a quote or free design preview (legal basis under GDPR: steps you asked for before a contract);
- carry out the work you hire us for, and invoice you (performance of a contract);
- approve sales partners, keep proof of their agreement and pay their commissions (performance of a contract);
- keep business and tax records (legal obligation);
- understand how visitors find and use the website, so we can improve it (Google Analytics; legal basis under GDPR: your consent);
- keep the website and its forms secure, working and free of spam (legitimate interests).
We don't sell your information, and we don't use it for advertising. We'll only send you marketing emails if you ask us to, and you can stop them at any time.
International transfers
We're based in Japan and work with clients around the world, so your information may be stored or processed in Japan and in other countries where our service providers operate, such as the United States. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission's adequacy decision for Japan and standard contractual clauses, and on your consent for transfers under Japanese law. Google Analytics data is processed by Google in the United States and other countries, under Google's data protection terms (the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clauses).
How long we keep it
- Enquiries that don't lead to a project: up to 2 years, then deleted.
- Client project records: for as long as we work together, and afterwards as long as needed for support and legal claims.
- Invoices and accounting records: for the period required by Japanese tax law (generally 7 years).
- Call bookings: the record that holds your time slot is deleted automatically 30 days after the call. The booking email and calendar event are kept like enquiries.
- Sales partner agreements: while the agreement is in force and for 7 years after it ends (proof of the agreement and tax records), then deleted. If we don't approve an application, we delete it within 6 months.
- Google Analytics data: 14 months, then deleted by Google automatically. The Analytics cookies in your browser last up to 2 years, unless you delete them or turn Analytics off.
- Backups: a daily copy of call bookings and sales partner agreements, kept by Cloudflare for 30 days and then deleted automatically. Anything we delete is gone from the backups within those 30 days.
- Security logs: a few days (at most 7). The scrambled IP address used to limit bookings: 24 hours.
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy;
- correct it if it's wrong;
- delete it, or stop or limit how we use it;
- transfer it to you or to another service, where applicable;
- withdraw consent you gave earlier.
Email webanchor.agency@gmail.com and we'll reply within 30 days. You also have the right to complain to a regulator: in Japan, the Personal Information Protection Commission; in the EU or UK, your local data protection authority.
Security
We use reasonable measures to protect your information, such as encrypted connections (HTTPS), spam and abuse protection on our forms, and secure, access-controlled accounts with the services we use. No system is perfectly secure, so please don't send passwords or payment card details by email.
Children
This website and our services are for businesses and adults. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 16.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. The date at the top shows when it last changed, and important changes will be highlighted on this page.