Privacy & Cookie Policy

Harbor Thistle is a slow-read journal about swimwear, resort dressing and the people who make them, edited in Tokyo. We try to treat our readers' information the way we treat our articles: with care, without hurry, and without anything loud happening behind the page. The notes below set out what that means in practice.

This policy follows Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI). Last reviewed: 1 October 2026.

Who we are

The Harbor Thistle editors are responsible for any personal information the journal receives. You can write to info@harbor-thistle.com, telephone +81 3-3681-9894, or send post to 1-2-27 Hirai, Edogawa City, Tokyo 132-0035, Japan.

What reaches us

When you read the journal, our web server notes the ordinary details of each visit: the IP address, the browser and device, which essay was opened and when. Nothing else is asked of you; there are no accounts, paywalls or subscriptions.

When you write to us, perhaps to suggest a topic, to point out a detail in a piece on retro silhouettes or simply to say hello, we receive your name, address or number and the words you send. We read every message, but we do not publish letters or quote readers without asking.

The journal is ad-free, and we keep it that way partly so that no advertising network collects information about you through our pages.

How it is used

Visit records help us keep the journal available and secure. Correspondence is used to reply and, now and then, to guide what the editors look into next. We do not profile readers, we do not sell information and we do not share it for marketing.

Cookies

A cookie is a small file your browser stores for a site. Harbor Thistle itself uses only a necessary cookie that remembers your response to the cookie notice.

Two outside services appear on our pages. The map near our contact details is provided by Google Maps, and the journal's fonts come from Google Fonts. Loading them shares your IP address with Google, which may set cookies of its own under its own policy. If you would rather avoid that, blocking third-party cookies in your browser leaves every essay readable.

Your browser settings let you see and delete cookies at any time.

Sharing with others

Information is passed only to the companies that host the journal and carry our email, and only as needed for those tasks. Some of these providers keep data on servers outside Japan, under safeguards comparable to the APPI. We disclose information to authorities only where Japanese law requires it.

How long we keep it

Letters and emails are kept for up to one year after the conversation ends, then deleted. Server records are removed within ninety days.

Your rights

You may ask to see the information we hold about you, have it corrected, have its use stopped, or have it deleted. Write to info@harbor-thistle.com; we will confirm your identity and reply within fourteen days. There is no fee.

Children

Harbor Thistle is written for adult readers and does not knowingly collect information from children under sixteen. If you think a child has written to us, please let us know and we will delete the message.

Security

The journal is delivered over HTTPS from start to finish. Letters arrive in a single editorial mailbox with two-step verification, and only the editors who answer them can read it. We keep no paper copies and do not move correspondence into other tools. Access is reviewed each season, roughly when our archive is updated.

Studios, designers and links

Our essays often mention the small studios, photographers and stylists we have spoken to, and sometimes link to their work. These are ordinary links. We are not paid when you follow them and we receive nothing about you. Their sites keep their own privacy terms, which apply once you arrive.

Interviewees are always asked how they would like to be named, and can ask us to revise or withdraw a quotation at any time.

If you have a concern

Please write to us first; an editor will reply personally. You are also entitled to contact the Personal Information Protection Commission of Japan about how we handle personal information.

What we will never ask you for

Harbor Thistle does not sell swimwear, take bookings or collect payments, so there is no reason for us to ask for a card number, a delivery address, your size or measurements. If you ever receive a message that claims to come from the journal and asks for any of these, it is not from us; please forward it to info@harbor-thistle.com so we can warn other readers.

Revisions

Any revision to this policy will be published on this page with a new review date. If a revision changes how we use information you have already sent, we will tell you before it takes effect.