Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 14, 2026

SAYAS Japanese School ("SAYAS," "we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you visit our website, purchase our digital learning materials or courses, create an account, subscribe to our communications, or otherwise use our services.

1. Who We Are

SAYAS Japanese School is operated by Saya Katano, established in Spain.

Website: sayasjapanese.com

Email: info@sayasjapanese.com

For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Saya Katano / SAYAS Japanese School is the data controller for the personal information described in this Privacy Policy, except where another service provider acts as an independent controller.

2. Information We Collect

The personal information we directly collect is generally limited to the information necessary to provide our products and services.

This primarily includes:

  • Your name

  • Your email address

  • Information about the products or courses you have purchased

  • Course progress and activity, where applicable

  • Information you voluntarily provide when contacting us

When you make a purchase, payment information is processed by our third-party payment providers, Stripe and/or PayPal. SAYAS Japanese School does not directly store your full credit or debit card details.

Our website and courses are hosted through Podia. Podia and other service providers may automatically process certain technical information, such as your IP address, device or browser information, and cookies, as necessary to operate their services. This information is handled in accordance with their respective privacy policies.

3. How We Use Your Information

We primarily use your name and email address to:

  • Create and manage your account

  • Give you access to purchased courses and downloadable materials

  • Process and keep records of your purchases

  • Send important emails related to your purchases, account, or courses

  • Respond to questions and provide customer support

  • Send newsletters or marketing emails if you have subscribed or otherwise agreed to receive them

We may also process course activity, such as lesson completion or quiz results, where necessary to provide course features and track your learning progress.

We do not sell your personal information.

4. Legal Bases for Processing

Where the GDPR or similar laws apply, we process personal information under one or more of the following legal bases:

Performance of a contract: We process information necessary to process your order, provide purchased products, give you access to courses, maintain your account, and provide customer support.

Legal obligations: We may retain and process information where necessary to comply with tax, accounting, consumer protection, or other legal requirements.

Consent: We may rely on your consent for certain marketing communications, cookies, or other processing activities where consent is legally required. You may withdraw your consent at any time.

Legitimate interests: We may process information where necessary for legitimate business purposes, such as protecting our services from fraud and misuse, maintaining security, responding to inquiries, and operating and improving our business, provided that these interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

5. Email Communications

We use MailerLite to manage certain email communications and mailing lists.

If you subscribe to our newsletter or agree to receive marketing communications, we may use your name, email address, subscription information, and engagement with our emails to send and manage those communications.

You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in our emails.

Unsubscribing from marketing communications does not prevent us from sending necessary transactional or service-related messages, such as purchase confirmations or important information concerning a course you purchased.

6. Service Providers

We use third-party companies to help us operate our business and provide our services. These currently include:

  • Podia — website, digital products, customer accounts, course hosting, and course delivery

  • Stripe — payment processing

  • PayPal — payment processing

  • MailerLite — email and newsletter management

These providers may process personal information on our behalf or, in some circumstances, as independent data controllers.

They process information according to their own privacy policies and applicable data protection laws.

We may also disclose information to professional advisers, authorities, or other parties where reasonably necessary to comply with the law, protect our rights, prevent fraud, or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

7. International Data Transfers

SAYAS Japanese School is established in Spain, but we provide our services worldwide and use service providers that may process personal information outside Spain or the European Economic Area (EEA), including in the United States.

Where personal information protected by the GDPR is transferred outside the EEA, we and/or our service providers use legally recognized safeguards where required, such as adequacy decisions, Standard Contractual Clauses, or other transfer mechanisms permitted under applicable data protection law.

8. How Long We Keep Your Information

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including providing our services and satisfying legal, accounting, tax, and reporting requirements.

The exact retention period depends on the type of information and the reason it is being processed.

For example:

Purchase and invoice records may be retained for the period required by applicable Spanish tax and accounting laws.

  • Account and course information may be retained while your account or access to purchased content remains active and for a reasonable period afterward.

  • Customer-support correspondence may be retained for a reasonable period after your inquiry has been resolved.

  • Marketing information may be retained until you unsubscribe or withdraw your consent, subject to retaining limited information where necessary to ensure that your opt-out preference is respected.

We may retain information for a longer period where necessary to comply with a legal obligation or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

9. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live and the applicable law, you may have rights regarding your personal information.

Under the GDPR, these may include the right to:

  • Request access to the personal information we hold about you

  • Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information

  • Request deletion of your personal information in certain circumstances

  • Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances

  • Object to certain processing

  • Request portability of certain personal information

  • Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent

  • Lodge a complaint with a competent data protection authority

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal exceptions.

To exercise your privacy rights, please contact us at info@sayasjapanese.com.

As SAYAS Japanese School is established in Spain, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) or, where applicable, another competent supervisory authority.

10. Children's Privacy

Our learning materials and courses may be used by people under the age of 18.

Where personal information relating to a minor is processed, we take applicable data protection requirements concerning children into account.

Where consent is the legal basis for processing and applicable law requires consent from a parent or legal guardian because of the user's age, we may require parental or guardian consent before processing the child's personal information.

Parents or legal guardians may contact us at info@sayasjapanese.com, if they have questions regarding a child's personal information or wish to exercise applicable privacy rights on the child's behalf.

We encourage parents and guardians to supervise children's use of online services and to help children understand how to protect their personal information.

11. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our website and the third-party platforms used to provide our services may use cookies and similar technologies.

Some cookies are necessary for essential functions such as:

  • Signing into an account

  • Maintaining account sessions

  • Processing purchases

  • Providing course access

  • Remembering necessary preferences

  • Maintaining website and account security

Where cookies or similar technologies that require consent under applicable law are used, we will request consent before using them as required.

More information about the cookies used on our website may be provided through our cookie notice or cookie settings, where applicable.

12. Security

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, loss, or misuse.

We also rely on established third-party providers to securely operate important parts of our services, including payment processing and course hosting.

However, no method of transmitting or storing information online can guarantee absolute security.

13. Third-Party Links

Our website or courses may contain links to websites or services operated by third parties.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of websites or services that we do not control. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing personal information.

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, legal requirements, or privacy practices.

When we make changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Where required by law, we may provide additional notice of significant changes.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, how we process your personal information, or wish to exercise your privacy rights, please contact:

SAYAS Japanese School / Saya Katano

Email: info@sayasjapanese.com.

Spain