Terms of Use

1.Definition

The definition of key words used in the Terms of Use (hereafter referred to as “terms”) for The Asahi Shimbun AJW website are as follows:

  1. 1) “The Asahi” refers to The Asahi Shimbun.
  2. 2) “AJW” refers to the English-language news site [The Asahi Shimbun AJW] administered by the Asahi.
  3. 3) “Subscription applicants” refer to individuals who apply to register to AJW.
  4. 4) “Registered information” refers to information registered by subscription applicants.
  5. 5) “AJW subscriber contract” refers to the subscription contract entered into by the subscription applicant and the Asahi.
  6. 6) “Subscription fee” refers to the fee for subscribing to AJW.
  7. 7) “Subscriber” refers to individuals who are approved by the Asahi for subscription after applying to the Asahi for subscription to AJW.
  8. 8) “PayPal” refers to the payment service provided by PayPal of the United States.
  9. 9) “Authentication information” is the collective term used for the ID and password needed to use AJW. Authentication information can be set up by the subscriber within prescribed conditions. Authentication information can also be revised as needed in line with prescribed procedures.
  10. 10) “Personal information” refers to registered information that can identify individual subscribers and that was obtained by the Asahi in the process of administering AJW.
  11. 11) “Personal information protection policy” refers to the personal information protection policy defined by the Asahi at the URL: (http:/ajw.asahi.com/information/privacy_policy/).

2.Terms

  1. 1) These terms will be applicable to all matters pertaining to subscription to AJW.
  2. 2) It will be assumed that subscription applicants and subscribers have read and agreed to these terms.
  3. 3) PayPal shall be used to pay the subscription fee. Subscription applicants must open a PayPal account by registering the necessary information with PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/ before applying to subscribe to AJW.
  4. 4) These terms may be revised as needed. Revised terms will become effective from the time it is posted on AJW, except for those occasions defined by the Asahi.

3.Subscription application

  1. 1) Subscription application procedures prescribed by the Asahi are required to subscribe to AJW. The AJW subscriber contract will become valid at the time the Asahi approves the application from a subscription applicant.
  2. 2) Subscription applicants must input accurate information about themselves for all items deemed necessary for the subscription application.
  3. 3) The Asahi may not approve a subscription application to AJW in the following cases. The Asahi bears no obligation to disclose to the subscription applicant the reason why the Asahi did not approve the application. Subscription applicants also cannot raise objections to the results of the judgment made by the Asahi.
    1. (1) When there are missing or false information in the registered information.
    2. (2) When the subscription applicant is not a PayPal member or has a reason for not registering with PayPal under the terms of use of PayPal or has left PayPal.
    3. (3) When contact with the subscription applicant cannot be made at the contact information provided.
    4. (4) When a subscription applicant has had services provided by the Asahi or a company belonging to the Asahi group terminated due to a violation of the terms.
    5. (5) When there are problems for carrying out the operations of the Asahi or technical problems.
    6. (6) Other cases which the Asahi deems as being inappropriate.

4.Services provided by AJW

  1. 1) Subscribers can view and use AJW within the operating environment designated by the Asahi. However, there may be instances when limitations arise in the use of AJW depending on the device, equipment, facilities, operating system, network or communications environment used by the subscriber.
  2. 2) Subscribers can access, view and utilize the services provided by AJW by utilizing their authentication information. They are prohibited from having other individuals use the authentication information to view AJW unless there is a separate agreement to do so with the Asahi.
  3. 3) While subscribers can undertake procedures to cancel the subscription, subscription fees that have been paid will not be refunded for whatever reason.
  4. 4) Subscribers will not be able to view or use AJW, including any service provided during the contract period, once the AJW subscriber contract is concluded.

5.Subscription fee and method of payment

  1. 1) Subscribers shall pay the subscription fee in compliance with these terms. The prescribed subscription fee will be applied during the period of the AJW subscriber contract, whether or not the site is viewed and used.
  2. 2) AJW can be subscribed to by the month, as well as subscription contracts of six months and one year. For further details, please refer to the “Fee plan page” on the AJW site. Subscription applicants shall select the fee schedule they want according to the method prescribed by the Asahi when submitting the subscription application.
  3. 3) Payment for the subscription fee shall be done by the credit card that is registered by the subscriber with PayPal. Details related to payment conditions, including the date when payment is requested, will be according to the provisions of the company issuing the credit card used by the subscriber. (Any questions should be reconfirmed with the company issuing the credit card.)
  4. 4) If the subscriber is tardy in paying based on these terms, the liability may be transferred to a third party.
  5. 5) No receipt will be issued after payment of the subscription fee.
  6. 6) If there is a change to the subscription fee, the Asahi will notify beforehand any such changes on the AJW site as well as through e-mail. The revised fee will be settled in the month from when the revised fee becomes effective.

6.Expenses

All expenses related to the subscription to AJW, such as communications costs as well as the cost of the computer and communications equipment, will be borne by the subscriber.

7.Confirmation and changes to registered information

Subscribers can confirm their own registered information through the account management page of AJW. When changes occur to registered information, the subscriber shall make the necessary changes as soon as possible through the account management page. The Asahi will bear no responsibility for any detriment experienced by the subscriber for failing to make the necessary changes.

8.Personal information

  1. 1) The Asahi will strictly and appropriately handle personal information in accordance to its personal information protection policy. (http://ajw.asahi.com/information/privacy_policy/)
  2. 2) The Asahi will utilize personal information within the limits of the following paragraphs. The Asahi may also use personal information within the limits of any agreement reached with the individual in question beforehand.
    1. (1) Administering and providing services of AJW (including subscription applications, authentication of subscribers, responding to queries and problems, customer management, requesting and settling subscription fees, various notices and contact).
    2. (2) Studies to improve, revise and contribute to customization of AJW services as well as conducting and analyzing surveys.
    3. (3) Developing and researching new services in line with usage circumstances of AJW and characteristics of subscribers.
    4. (4) Notifying subscribers about products and services published or administered by the Asahi or a company belonging to the Asahi group (including newspapers, publications, digital media, cultural and other events, seminars).
    5. (5) Studies to improve products and services published by or administered by the Asahi as well as conducting and analyzing surveys.
    6. (6) Any incidental work operations related to the above paragraphs.
  3. 3) The Asahi may commission some of the work defined in the previous section to a third party (hereafter referred to as “subcontractor”) and the Asahi could allow the subcontractor to handle personal information in the course of carrying out the work. In those cases, the Asahi will have the subcontractor disclose and handle the personal information only to the extent that it is needed to carry out the work and will obligate the subcontractor to strictly manage and handle the personal information.
  4. 4) Regarding the registered information of subscribers, the Asahi may provide to third parties, including advertisers on the AJW site, figures that have been processed statistically so that individuals cannot be identified.
  5. 5) The Asahi will not bear any responsibility for the handling of personal information obtained by a third party through a business transaction the subscriber has entered into with said third party through services provided on AJW.
  6. 6) Regardless of the question for canceling or dissolving a subscription, even after the conclusion of the AJW subscription contract, the Asahi will store information required by law, such as the record of requests for subscription fees, for a certain period of time in accordance with the relevant law. The Asahi will also handle the personal information that it possesses pertaining to subscribers within the limits needed for administering the AJW and according to the personal information protection policy.

9.Copyright and other rights

  1. 1) Copyright and all other rights related to AJW will be held by the Asahi and the copyright holder who has licensed usage to the Asahi.
  2. 2) The Asahi and copyright holders who license usage to the Asahi make no guarantees (including for accuracy, completeness and validity) of the contents of AJW.
  3. 3) The Asahi and copyright holders who license usage to the Asahi can demand without warning compensation for all damages, losses and expenses incurred through illegal acts by users.

10.Use of authentication information

Subscribers will be responsible for managing their own authentication information. All acts conducted through the use of the authentication information of the subscriber will be considered the acts of the subscriber. The Asahi will bear no responsibility for any damages that may arise to the subscriber in such cases as the purchase of products through the fraudulent use of authentication information or the use of the authentication information by a third party.

11.Suspension of services

The Asahi can temporarily suspend or end part of or all of the services of AJW without prior notification to subscribers if the following cases should arise:

  1. 1) Administration of AJW becomes difficult due to force majeure such as malfunctions in the communications lines, fire, blackouts, act of providence and war.
  2. 2) When the AJW computer system requires maintenance. However, subscribers will be notified beforehand of a suspension of services due to scheduled maintenance.
  3. 3) All other cases in which AJW cannot be provided for rational reasons.

12.Exemption of liability

  1. 1) Due to maintenance of the computer system, there may arise time periods when certain acts, such as applying or canceling an AJW subscription or changing the fee schedule, cannot be conducted. Even if subscription applicants or subscribers experience a detriment due to the inability to conduct such acts, the Asahi will not bear responsibility.
  2. 2) The responsibility the Asahi has toward subscribers will be limited to providing services by maintaining the obligation to take care as an upstanding administrator so that the subscriber can use AJW without problems. AJW will be as provided at the time of use by the subscriber and the Asahi will not bear any obligation to guarantee any aspect of AJW (including, but not limited to, completeness, accuracy and validity of the functions and contents of the service as well as an unspoken guarantee about compatibility to a certain objective).
  3. 3) There may be instances in which the contents of AJW are linked to external websites. The websites of such links (hereafter referred to as “said links”) are not administered by the Asahi and the Asahi will bear no responsibility for said links or its resources. The Asahi will also bear no responsibility to compensate for any damages (either indirectly or directly) that arise due to or in relation to the contents, advertisements, products and services that may appear and be possible to use on the said links or resources.
  4. 4) All business transactions between companies that engage in advertising, publicity or notifications (hereafter referred to collectively as “advertising, etc.”) on AJW and subscribers will be conducted on the basis of the responsibility of those two parties. The Asahi will bear no responsibility for any damage that may arise from a transaction based on an advertisement that appeared on AJW as well as any damage that may arise due to the appearance of the advertisement itself on AJW.
  5. 5) The Asahi will bear no responsibility for the interruption, delay, suspension or ending of services of AJW caused by such elements as acts of providence, war, civil strife, rioting, the passage or reform of laws or changes in how laws are implemented, revisions in the standards related to regulations on transmission, etc., orders by public authorities, labor strikes, problems with communication lines or other forms of force majeure.
  6. 6) The Asahi will bear no responsibility for (1) damages that subscribers may incur from the interruption, delay, suspension or ending of services of AJW (including damages that may arise from requests made by third parties); (2) damages that subscribers may incur through the use of information obtained through the services of AJW (including damages that may arise from requests made by third parties); (3) damages that subscribers may incur through the fraudulent use of authentication information of subscribers by a third party; and (4) losses that arise due to fraudulent acts by subscribers, the loss of savings or the interruption of work operations, as well as all form of indirect damages, special damages and other collateral damage (including lost earnings), even if the Asahi was made aware of the possibility of such damages beforehand.
  7. 7) Regardless of the preceding paragraph, if subscribers should incur damages due to fraudulent acts by the Asahi, including violations of its obligations defined in these terms, the Asahi will bear responsibility to compensate for normal and direct damages that may actually arise to subscribers due to the willful intention or major negligence of the Asahi. In such cases, the monetary compensation amount to be borne by the Asahi will be the equivalent to the subscription fee that would have been applied to the said subscriber in the month in which the damages occurred.
  8. 8) Compensation by the Asahi to subscribers based on the preceding paragraph can be paid out by deducting the said compensation amount from the subscription fee to be requested of the said subscriber.

13.Prohibited acts

Subscribers will be prohibited from the following acts in relation to AJW:

  1. 1) Providing or retransmitting to a third party everything related to AJW including individual contents of the service.
  2. 2) Excluding the ordinary functions of AJW, all acts that violate the copyright of the Asahi as well as third parties through the copying of AJW including the individual contents of the service (excluding digital storage that temporarily arises on the monitor from the viewing of the website), or the editing, processing, translating, adapting, publishing, republishing, distributing, broadcasting, dictating, exhibiting, selling or public transmission (including readying for transmission and the posting to a website on the Internet or the Intranet) as well as the revising of such contents. In addition, the providing or retransmitting to a third party of all contents on which such acts have been performed will also be prohibited.
  3. 3) Any act that transfers, passes on to or lends to a third party the status, rights or authentication information of subscribers regardless of whether the acts were conducted for a fee or not.
  4. 4) Acts that use AJW for profit-making purposes or to prepare for such purposes.
  5. 5) Acts to falsely report or that may become connected to crimes of fraud.
  6. 6) Acts to use AJW by impersonating another subscriber or a third party.
  7. 7) Acts to illegally access AJW or other computer systems or networks that are connected to AJW as well as other acts that interfere with the administration of AJW.
  8. 8) Acts of data mining, data gathering using robots or the use of extraction tools in relation to AJW.
  9. 9) Illegal acts
  10. 10) In addition to the above paragraphs, all other acts that the Asahi determines to be inappropriate.

14.Subscriber support

Customer support will respond to all inquiries related to AJW, including additional inquiries made in relation to responses from the Asahi. However, inquiries as well as changes about personal information related to authentication information and registered information along with operating requests related to procedures for cancelling subscriptions will, in principle, not be responded to from the standpoint of protecting personal information. Because the Asahi manages passwords by encryption, it will, in principle, be unable to respond to inquiries from subscribers about their authentication or registered information. Confirmation after authentication information has been misplaced or confirmation or revision of registered information shall be carried out in line with methods prescribed by the Asahi.

15.Cancellation of services by subscribers

  1. 1) Subscribers can cancel the AJW subscription contract under the methods and conditions prescribed by the Asahi. However, the subscription fee will not be refunded.
  2. 2) Even in cases when the cancellation cannot be conducted due to reasons that lie in the responsibility of the subscriber, such as the misplacing of the authentication information or mistaken operating of the device, the Asahi will bear no responsibility. The Asahi will also be under no obligation to actively cooperate for the purpose of cancelling the subscription. The Asahi will also bear no responsibility for any damages that may arise to the subscriber because a cancellation could not be carried out.

16.Suspension of subscription by the Asahi and dissolution of AJW subscriber contract

  1. 1) The Asahi will be able to immediately suspend subscription to AJW or dissolve the AJW subscriber contract without notification beforehand to the subscriber if the Asahi determines that the subscriber has committed one of the following acts.
    1. (1) Any violation of these terms.
    2. (2) Any fraudulent acts related to registered information, such as false applications.
    3. (3) A delay in fulfilling the payment obligations based on these terms or when a payment request is rejected.
    4. (4) When PayPal membership is dissolved through the leaving by the subscriber from PayPal, or when the subscriber is forced to leave PayPal due to reasons for such expulsions as defined by PayPal in its various user regulations.
    5. (5) In all other cases in which the Asahi determines for a rational reason that the subscriber is inappropriate.
  2. 2) The Asahi will not accept any questions or complaints related to measures to suspend subscriptions or dissolve the AJW subscriber contract.
  3. 3) When the AJW subscriber contract is dissolved, the subscriber loses the benefits of a deadline and will have to pay in total and immediately all monetary liabilities (including unpaid subscription fees) to the Asahi. If the subscriber violates regulations as a PayPal member or conducts any act listed under section 1) of this article that leads to damages to the Asahi, the Asahi will be able to request compensation for those damages regardless of whether or not the AJW subscriber contract has been dissolved.
  4. 4) The Asahi will bear no responsibility even if the subscriber should incur damages due to the suspension of the subscription or the dissolving of the AJW subscriber contract in accordance with the provisions of this article.

17.Effectiveness of these terms

If any provisions of these terms are found to violate laws or are determined to be invalid or unable to be implemented, all other provisions of the terms will continue to be effective.

18.Applicable law and legal jurisdiction

  1. 1) The laws of Japan shall govern these terms.
  2. 2) The Tokyo District Court shall be the first court of exclusive agreed legal jurisdiction for any lawsuits that may arise related to these terms.

(Effective from Oct. 20, 2011)