Terms of Use
Last updated: October 28, 2026
By accessing quietharborpath.com you agree to these Terms of Use. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.
1. Content
All articles, illustrations, design and code on the Site are owned by Quiet Harbor Path or its licensors and protected by copyright. You may read, share links to and quote short excerpts with clear attribution and a link to the original article. Republishing full articles or illustrations requires our written permission.
2. Information only
Content is provided for general information and inspiration. Opening hours, booking rules and access to buildings change; always check official sources before travelling. See our Disclaimer.
3. Acceptable use
You agree not to misuse the Site, attempt unauthorized access, scrape content at scale or interfere with its operation.
4. External links
We may link to third-party websites. We are not responsible for their content or practices.
5. Limitation of liability
To the extent permitted by law, the Site is provided "as is" and we are not liable for any loss arising from its use.
6. Changes
We may update these Terms at any time. Continued use of the Site means you accept the current version.
7. Visiting buildings
Our essays describe buildings; they are not permission to enter them. Katsura Imperial Villa can only be seen on a reserved tour run by the Imperial Household Agency, the Church of the Light serves an active congregation and accepts visitors only by reservation at set hours, and the machiya we describe in Kyoto are, for the most part, private homes and shops. When you visit, keep to public streets and visiting hours, follow the instructions of temples, shrines and museums about photography and footwear, and leave residents in peace.
8. Corrections and reader letters
We check our essays against published sources, but we welcome corrections. If you write to us, you confirm that what you send is your own and may be used to improve the article. Significant corrections are noted at the foot of the essay.
9. The monthly letter
By subscribing you agree to receive one letter a month from Quiet Harbor Path. You may unsubscribe at any time through the link in every letter.
10. Governing law
These Terms are governed by Japanese law. Disputes will be heard by the Tokyo District Court as the court of first instance, without prejudice to any mandatory consumer rights you have where you live.
11. Linking to an essay
You may link to any essay or to the front page without asking. The "copy link" button under an essay gives you its plain address, with nothing added to it. Please don't show the journal inside a frame on another site, and don't present an essay, or a close paraphrase of one, as your own writing.
12. Quoting the journal
Students, teachers and other writers quote us often, and we are glad of it. A few sentences with the essay's title and a link are always fine. If you want to translate an essay, or quote whole sections in a printed publication, write to us first. We usually agree, and we would rather know where our words are going.
13. Photographs
The photographs come from Pexels and remain under the Pexels License. Where a picture shows a building of the same type rather than the one named in the essay, the caption says so. If you are the photographer of an image on the Site and would like it credited differently or taken down, let us know and we will do so promptly.
14. Essays are revised
Buildings change, and so does what we know about them. The Nakagin Capsule Tower was taken down in 2022; the shrines at Ise are rebuilt every twenty years. We revise essays when facts move, and sometimes we retire one. We don't promise that any essay will stay online, or stay in its original form, for a set time.
15. Japanese terms and our glosses
The essays use a handful of Japanese words, such as ma, engawa and sukiya, each with a short gloss of our own. These are simplifications for readers meeting the words for the first time, not dictionary definitions, and specialists may reasonably read them differently. If a gloss misleads, tell us and we will rewrite it.