Privacy Policy

Who we are

MichiKanji (www.michikanji.com) is run by The Auspicious Company, a company registered in Massachusetts, United States (“we”, “us”). We decide how the personal information described here is used, which makes us its controller. You can reach us at ari@llanai.com, or by post at the address at the end of this page.

The short version

• There are no accounts. Your study progress stays in your own browser and is never sent to us.
• We only have your email address if you subscribe to the weekly story or join the Tan Dash app waitlist, and only after you confirm it.
• We count visits with privacy-focused analytics. A second analytics tool runs only if you allow it.
• We don’t sell or rent personal information, and we don’t use advertising networks or advertising cookies.

What we collect, and why

When you browse the site

• Visit analytics (DataFast). The pages you visit, the site that referred you, an approximate location derived from your IP address, and your browser and device type. DataFast sets first-party cookies so that a returning browser is counted once. We use this to learn which pages help learners. Legal basis: our legitimate interests.
• Game events (DataFast). When you play Tan Dash, our free kanji game, our visit analytics also counts a few events about play: that a game started, that you caught your first and your third kanji, that you shared a score, and that you tapped the button saying you would play it as a phone app. Each carries what the visit analytics above already records, plus at most whether this browser had caught a kanji before or how the score was shared. No score, no kanji and nothing you type is sent. Legal basis: our legitimate interests.
• Return visits (DataFast). To learn whether the game brings people back, your browser keeps a note of one day (your first visit since we added the game or, once you play, the day you first caught a kanji), of whether you have started a game and caught a kanji, and of whether the visit on that day began with a link in our story email. If you come back on a later day within a week of it, your browser sends our visit analytics one event saying that you came back, whether you had started a game or caught a kanji, and whether that earlier visit came from the email. That happens at most twice per browser, ever, and never on the page that confirms an email subscription. To tell whether a visit came from the email, your browser also notes, for as long as the tab stays open, that you arrived through a link in it. Like the game events, the event carries nothing that identifies you beyond DataFast’s own visitor cookie, and the notes themselves never leave your browser. Legal basis: our legitimate interests.
• Optional analytics (Ahrefs Web Analytics). Loaded only if you turn on analytics in the cookie banner. Legal basis: your consent. To withdraw it, clear this site’s data in your browser; the banner will ask again on your next visit.
• Server logs (Vercel). Our host records requests, including IP address and browser, to run and secure the site. The search box on our homepage sends what you type to our server to find matching kanji, so a search appears in these logs too; we keep no other record of it. Our sign-up and feedback forms also hold your IP address in memory for ten minutes, to limit repeated submissions. The confirmation and unsubscribe links in emails we sent before October 11, 2026 contain your email address, so opening one puts it in these logs too. Legal basis: our legitimate interests.
• Videos on story pages (YouTube). Some story episode pages show a video from our YouTube channel. Such a page shows a thumbnail image taken from YouTube. Our server fetches it from YouTube (Google) and passes a resized copy on to you, so your browser does not contact YouTube to show it. The video itself is not loaded until you click it; clicking loads YouTube’s privacy-enhanced player (youtube-nocookie.com), and from then on Google’s privacy policy applies to what YouTube collects. The “Watch on YouTube” link takes you to YouTube. Legal basis: our legitimate interests in showing our own lessons.

Your learning progress

Your progress, review schedule, dismissed announcements and cookie choice are stored in your browser’s local storage, and so, if you play Tan Dash, are your best score, Kanji-dex, streak and game options. They never leave your device, and we cannot see them. The return-visit note described above is kept there too, and the note that a visit came from our email is kept in the browser’s session storage until you close the tab; only the event they lead to ever leaves your browser. Clearing this site’s data in your browser deletes them all.

The weekly story email

• What we hold: your email address, when you confirmed your subscription, and whether you have unsubscribed.
• How you join: you enter your address, we send one confirmation email, and nothing else happens unless you press the button in it. Until then nothing is added to our list: the link in that email carries your request itself, signed so it cannot be forged, and it expires after 48 hours.
• Our record of your consent is your subscriber entry. It can only be created by pressing that button, and it records when you did.
• Which page you signed up from is counted in our analytics as a sign-up event. It is not stored with your email address.
• Links in the story email carry a tag naming the email they are in. The tag is the same for every subscriber, so when you follow one, our visit analytics learns which email the visit came from, not which subscriber you are.
• Why: to send you the story you asked for, about once a week. Legal basis: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
• Leaving: every email has an unsubscribe link, and most mail apps also show a one-click Unsubscribe button. After you unsubscribe we keep your address marked as unsubscribed, so that it is never emailed again by mistake. If you would rather we delete it entirely, ask us (see “Your rights” below).
• Giving us your address is optional. Without it, we just can’t send you the story.

The Tan Dash app waitlist

• What we hold: your email address, and whether you have unsubscribed.
• How you join: the form under Tan Dash, then the button in our confirmation email (the link lasts 48 hours). Pressing it is our record of your consent. Our analytics count the sign-up, not your address.
• Why: one email if a Tan Dash phone app ships, and nothing else. Legal basis: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
• Leaving: reply to the confirmation email or write to ari@llanai.com. The app email will also carry an unsubscribe link. If you are on both lists, unsubscribing from either stops both.

When you write to us

Replies to our emails and messages from the site’s feedback form reach our inbox with whatever you included: typically your name, email address and message. We use them to answer you. Legal basis: our legitimate interests.

Buying the book

The MichiKanji book is sold on Amazon. Following a link to it takes you off our site, and Amazon’s own privacy notice applies there. We don’t receive your payment or order details.

Who handles data for us

These service providers process data on our behalf and only on our instructions:

• Resend: sends our emails, keeps a log of what it sent, and stores the subscriber list and the app waitlist
• Vercel: hosts the website
• DataFast: visit analytics
• Ahrefs: optional analytics, only with your consent
• Google Workspace: our email inbox
• Google (YouTube): serves the thumbnail (to our server) and the player (to your browser, after you click) for the videos on some story pages, as described above

We also disclose information when the law requires it, or to protect our rights or the safety of our users.

Where your data is processed

We are based in the United States. Your information is processed in the United States and in the other countries where our service providers operate.

How long we keep it

• Subscribers: while you are subscribed. After you unsubscribe, only as the do-not-email marker described above, until you ask us to delete it.
• The app waitlist: while you are on it. After you unsubscribe, only as the do-not-email marker described above, until you ask us to delete it.
• Unconfirmed sign-ups: nothing is added to our lists, and the confirmation link expires after 48 hours. Resend's send log keeps a record of the confirmation email (your address, its subject and when it was sent) for the period Resend sets for our account.
• Messages to us: as long as we need to deal with them and any follow-up.
• Analytics and server logs: for the periods those providers set.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• tell you what personal information we hold about you, and give you a copy
• correct it
• delete it
• stop using it, or restrict how we use it
• stop relying on your consent. Unsubscribing does this for email. Withdrawing consent doesn’t affect anything we did before you withdrew it.

To make a request, email ari@llanai.com or write to us at the postal address below. We will reply within one month. If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

We don’t use your information to make automated decisions about you.

Children

MichiKanji is not directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has subscribed, tell us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use your information in a meaningful way, we will tell weekly story subscribers by email before it takes effect. If you are only on the app waitlist, you will see the change here.

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