Privacy Policy

1. General Information & Data Controller (Verantwortliche Stelle)

Pursuant to Article 4(7) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable German data protection laws (BDSG, DDG), the data controller responsible for the processing of personal data on this platform is:

This privacy policy applies to all users of NihonTale, including registered subscribers, trial users, and general website visitors. We ensure that all personal data is processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently.

2. Data Collection & Processing Purposes (Datenerhebung & Verarbeitungszwecke)

2.1. Account Registration Data

When you create an account on NihonTale, we collect personal information necessary to establish and maintain your user account, including:

• Your email address (used for authentication, account recovery, and essential transactional emails).
• Your account password (stored exclusively as salted, irreversible cryptography hashes using bcrypt).
• Account creation timestamp, locale preferences, and preferred interface settings.

2.2. Learning Progress & Profile Data

To deliver an interactive, personalized language learning experience, we process and store data related to your platform activity:

• Completed visual novel story chapters, dialogue checkpoints, and interactive decision branches.
• Kana and Kanji learning stats, exercise review scores, and SRS (Spaced Repetition System) interval scheduling data.
• Character interaction history (such as progress and settings with our AI character coach Yui).
• Gamification metrics including consecutive daily streaks, total study duration, and achievement badges.

3. Legal Basis for Data Processing (Rechtsgrundlagen nach DSGVO)

We process your personal data strictly in accordance with European data protection regulations (GDPR Article 6):

• Performance of a Contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR): Processing your account credentials, payment state, and study progress is strictly required to fulfill our contractual agreement to deliver the NihonTale learning platform.
• Legitimate Interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): Processing server logs, anonymized IP addresses, and session tokens is necessary for maintaining infrastructure security, preventing unauthorized access, and debugging system errors.
• Compliance with Legal Obligations (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR): Retaining billing records and transaction logs to comply with statutory tax, commercial, and accounting regulations.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): Where applicable, non-essential optional features are processed based on your explicit consent, which may be withdrawn at any time by contacting support@nihontale.com.

4. Payment Processing & Financial Data (Stripe Payments)

4.1. Financial Data Protection: All credit card transactions, recurring subscription billing, and payment processing are handled securely by Stripe. When you subscribe to a Premium plan, payment card details are transmitted directly to Stripe via end-to-end TLS encryption. NihonTale does not store full credit card numbers, CVV security codes, or banking PINs on our servers.

4.2. Subscription Metadata: We receive and retain transaction metadata from Stripe to grant access to premium content, including your Stripe Customer ID, Subscription ID, status (active, past_due, canceled), plan renewal dates, and digital invoice history.

5. Cookies, Local Storage & Session Data (Cookies & Speicherung)

5.1. Technical Session Cookies

NihonTale uses technical session cookies (such as PHPSESSID) essential for platform operation. These cookies contain temporary session tokens that keep you securely authenticated while navigating between visual novel chapters and practice modules.

5.2. Browser LocalStorage & SessionStorage

We utilize browser LocalStorage and SessionStorage to cache non-sensitive user settings on your device, including:

• Audio playback preferences, voice speed, and background music volume levels.
• Furigana display toggles (Romaji, Hiragana, or Kanji mode).
• Temporary exercise state and visual novel dialogue text scaling options.

5.3. Managing Cookie Preferences

Essential cookies are required for fundamental site operation. You can configure your browser to block or delete cookies, but doing so will prevent logging into your account and preserving study progress.

6. Technical Logging & Server Performance (Web-Server Logs)

When accessing the NihonTale website, our hosting web servers automatically record technical connection data in web server log files. The logged information includes:

• Anonymized or pseudonymized IP address of the requesting device.
• Date, exact time, and timezone of the server request.
• Requested URL path, HTTP method, and HTTP status code.
• Web browser version, operating system, and User-Agent header string.
• Referrer URL (the website page from which you visited NihonTale).

Server logs are processed exclusively to ensure web server stability, protect against cyberattacks (such as DDoS or brute-force unauthorized access), and diagnose software bugs. Server log records are automatically deleted after statutory security retention periods.

7. Data Retention & Storage Duration (Speicherdauer & Löschung)

7.1. Active Account Data: Your account profile, learning metrics, and subscription records are stored for as long as your NihonTale account remains active.

7.2. Account Deletion: If you request account deletion or delete your profile within settings, your personal data and account credentials will be permanently erased from our active database within 30 days, unless statutory retention obligations apply.

7.3. Statutory Retention Period: Transaction history and invoice metadata must be retained for up to 10 years in compliance with German commercial and tax laws (Handelsgesetzbuch HGB / Abgabenordnung AO).

8. Your Rights under GDPR & International Privacy Laws (Ihre Rechte)

Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and international privacy frameworks, you hold statutory rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of Access (Art. 15 GDPR): You have the right to request information on what personal data we hold about you and receive a copy.
• Right to Rectification (Art. 16 GDPR): You have the right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal records.
• Right to Erasure / "Right to be Forgotten" (Art. 17 GDPR): You have the right to request permanent deletion of your personal data.
• Right to Restriction of Processing (Art. 18 GDPR): You may request restriction of processing under certain legal prerequisites.
• Right to Data Portability (Art. 20 GDPR): You have the right to receive your personal learning data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to Object (Art. 21 GDPR): You have the right to object to data processing based on legitimate interests at any time.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a competent data protection supervisory authority.

To exercise any of these rights, simply email our data privacy team at support@nihontale.com.

9. Data Security & Encryption Standards (Datensicherheit)

9.1. End-to-End Encryption: All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using modern TLS (Transport Layer Security 1.2 / 1.3) protocols with strong cipher suites.

9.2. Password Hashing: User passwords are never saved in plaintext. We utilize industry-standard cryptographic password hashing (bcrypt) with random salts.

9.3. Security Audits: We maintain strict technical and organizational measures (TOMs), including access controls, firewall monitoring, and regular vulnerability checks to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure.

10. Contact Information & Data Protection Enquiries

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact our support team:

We are dedicated to addressing any data protection inquiries swiftly and thoroughly.

11. AI-Generated Content & Transparency (KI-generierte Inhalte)

Pursuant to Article 50 of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689), we inform you that certain content on NihonTale is created with the assistance of artificial intelligence systems:

• Character voice audio: The spoken dialogue of our characters (including Yui, Ema, and other NPCs) is generated using AI-based text-to-speech (TTS) technology, not human voice actors.
• Dialogue & story text: Portions of the visual novel's dialogue and story text are drafted with the assistance of large language models (LLMs) and subsequently reviewed and edited by our team before publication.
• Backgrounds & character artwork: Scene backgrounds and character illustrations used throughout the visual novel are created with the assistance of AI image generation tools.

As NihonTale is an evidently fictional, creative visual novel, this notice satisfies the transparency obligation under Art. 50(2) AI Act in a manner appropriate to a work of fiction. Corresponding synthetic-content markers are additionally embedded in the underlying game data in machine-readable form.