Welcome to Sumo Tours! You have found our Terms of Service (“Terms”), an agreement between you and Sumo Tours, located at Grace 101, 2-4-7 Komoto, Nakagawa Ward, Nagoya (Aichi, Japan) 454-0828, Japan, concerning your use of our online platform and service, which connects people to sumo experiences in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. The platform and service are available at https://www.sumotours.net/ (the “Site”).
To make these Terms easier to read, our online platform and service and the Site will be referred to as the “Services.” You should read the Terms carefully before you use the Services. If you have any questions, feel free to send us an email at sumootours@gmail.com. We want you to feel comfortable using the Services and will happily answer any questions you have, about the Services or otherwise, so don’t hesitate to contact us.
Through the Services, Sumo Tours offers an online platform to allow Guests from around the world to experience the charms of the Sumo. Your safety (and satisfaction) is our top priority. Although our goal is to make your experience as seamless and enjoyable as possible and we have done our best to vet each of our Guides for quality, you acknowledge and agree that Sumo Tours’s responsibilities under these Terms are limited solely to facilitating the availability of the Services, serving as the limited payment agent of each Host, processing refunds to Guests, and holding and administering payments as a trustee on behalf of Guides and Guests. More on this below.
Your access to the Site and use of the Services is at your own risk and Sumo Tours disclaims all warranties, express or implied, and limits its liability in these Terms. You will see that we have included a disclaimer towards the end of these Terms. If, during your Experience, or through your use of the Services, you are subjected to behavior you believe is offensive, threatening, dangerous or otherwise illegal, or if you suspect theft of, or damage to, your property or personal belongings, you should immediately contact the appropriate local authorities or safety emergency agency (by calling 110 in Japan). Sumo Tours is not able to provide or arrange for local emergency services.
By accessing the Site or using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms, whether or not you have registered with the Services. If you do not agree, then you should not (and in fact are not permitted to) use the Services. If you are accessing and using the Services on behalf of a company (such as your employer) or other legal entity, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that company or other legal entity to these Terms. In that case, “you” and “your” will refer to that company or other legal entity.
Certain areas of the Site or features of the Services may have additional terms and you should read those additional terms. If there is a conflict between these Terms and the additional terms, the additional terms will govern your use of those areas of the Site or features of the Services.
We can change the Terms at any time. If we do so, we will let you know either by posting the changed Terms on the Site or through other communications. We will also update the “Last Updated Date” at the bottom of these Terms. It is important that you review the changed Terms because if you continue to use the Services after we have let you know that they have been changed, you are telling us that you agree to be bound by the changed Terms. If you do not agree to be bound by the changed Terms, then you are not allowed to use the Services anymore. We are always striving to make the Services better and because they are evolving over time we may change or discontinue all or any part of the Services at any time and without notice, at our discretion. As an example, we might stop providing a feature that our users do not like or use frequently.
If you want to use certain features of the Services, you will need to create an account with a username and password (an “Account”) and become a “Member.” You may only use the Services if you are 18 years of age or older and are not barred from using the Services under applicable law. You may not become a Member to try to collect information about other Members, or to contact other Members for other purposes.
It is important that you provide us with accurate and complete information and you promise to keep your Account information up to date. If you do not, we might have to suspend or terminate your Account. You agree not to share your password and you will let us know if there is any unauthorized use of your Account. You are responsible for all activities that occur under your Account and you will immediately tell us about any unauthorized use of your Account.
Please refer to our Privacy Policy (https://www.sumotours.net/privacy-policy/ ) for information about how we collect, use, and disclose information from our users.
As a User or Member of our Services, you will have access to personal information related to the Services, including your Host’s email address and general location. You are required to only use this information in relation to the Services. To the extent that you have access to any personal information, you are required to abide by applicable data protection laws and adhere to the Privacy Policy (https://www.sumotours.net/privacy-policy/) in the processing of that information. At no time are you to copy, alter, or access information for any reason other than those allowed under these Terms.
As a Guest, you will have to pay the Total Experience Fees (Experience Fees plus any Markup) in order to enjoy an Experience. You will see the Total Experience Fees during the booking process, which may include applicable taxes and payment processing fees. Exact pricing is based on the number of people traveling and the exact service being requested. At the time of booking, Guests requesting to book an Experience will be provided the complete pricing breakdown and will be asked to enter their credit card information. The credit card will only be charged once your Host confirms the booking. At that point, your payment obligation to the Host for the Total Experience Fees is complete. Sumo Tours accepts VISA, MasterCard, American Express, JCB credit cards which are processed via Stripe’s secure processing system.
If you make a request for a booking via the Services, you agree that (a) Sumo Tours may charge your credit card for verification, pre-authorization, and payment purposes; (b) you will pay the applicable Total Experience Fees and other charges to Sumo Tours, which acts as the payment agent of the Host, for whom funds will be held in one or more Customer Accounts (defined under “Payment and Administration Of Member Funds” below) and (c) you agree to bear any additional charges that your bank or other financial service provider may levy on you, as well as any taxes that may apply to you. You will receive a confirmation email once the Confirmed Booking transaction is complete. If you have any concerns or objections regarding charges, you agree to raise them first with Sumo Tours and you agree not to cancel or reject any credit card charges unless you have made a reasonable attempt at resolving the matter directly with Sumo Tours or the Guide.
The Guides, not Sumo Tours, are responsible for honoring any Confirmed Bookings and making the applicable Experiences available. You agree to leave the Experience location upon the completion of your Experience, or in the event that the Host notifies you that the Host is uncomfortable with your presence at the Experience location. As a Guest, you are responsible for maintaining the privacy of your Host’s contact information and not sharing it; under these Terms you are allowed to message your Host through the Site platform or contact them only as needed to render Services. While we will use reasonable efforts in our sole discretion to help you in your dealings with Guides to make the experience between you and Guides as enjoyable as possible, you, and not Sumo Tours, will be responsible for performing the obligations of any contracts with the Guides, and Sumo Tours will not be liable in connection with such contracts.
As a Guest, you acknowledge that by providing us with certain personal information, we will use that personal information to provide you with the Services, including sharing some of that personal information with the Guides. Any personal information provided by you will be protected as described in our Privacy Policy (https://www.sumotours.net/privacy-policy/) and you can request additional information by emailing us at sumootours@gmail.com.
As we have mentioned throughout these Terms, our goal is to make the Experiences as enjoyable as possible for guests. If you have an issue with a Host, we encourage you to reach out directly to the Host to resolve such issue, and we will use reasonable efforts to help you resolve the issue. You agree to cooperate with and assist Sumo Tours in good faith, and to provide Sumo Tours with such information and take such actions as may be reasonably requested by Sumo Tours, in connection with any complaints or claims made relating to Experiences, relating to conduct of Guides, or with respect to any investigation undertaken by Sumo Tours or a representative of Sumo Tours regarding use or abuse of the Services. Upon Sumo Tours’s reasonable request, and to the extent you are reasonably able to do so, you agree to participate in mediation or similar conflict resolution process with a Host, at no cost to you. Any such process will be conducted by Sumo Tours or a third party selected by Sumo Tours.
Members acknowledge and agree that funds paid to Sumo Tours for Experiences are provided to Sumo Tours solely for the purpose of obtaining and paying for Services, including, without limitation, payment of Total Experience Fees, and the Markups and other fees we are permitted to charge under these Terms (hereafter referred to as “Members Funds”). Sumo Tours agrees to hold such Member Funds in trust in one or more accounts with banks or financial institutions of Sumo Tours’s choice (hereafter referred to as “Customer Accounts”). Upon receipt of Member Funds, Sumo Tours agrees to deposit and hold all such funds in one or more Customer Accounts, which will be identified as being for the benefit of, or held in trust for, the Members. Sumo Tours may, at any time, without notice to or consent of Members, modify the specific terms set forth in this section with respect to Customer Accounts or adopt different terms with respect to the holding, administration, and investment of Member Funds.
You, as a Guest, may cancel a Confirmed Booking and depending on the timing receive the following refund:
We really want everyone to have a great experience and to feel safe when using the Services. Accordingly, you agree that you will only use the Services in a manner that is consistent with the User Conduct Terms, set forth below. If you do not, we may take action by suspending or terminating your Account.
In connection with your use of the Services you agree that you will not:
Although we are not obligated to monitor access to or use of the Services or Content or to review or edit any Content, we have the right to do so for the purpose of operating the Services, to ensure compliance with these Terms or to comply with applicable law. We reserve the right but are not obligated, to remove or disable access to any Content, at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, if we, at our sole discretion, consider any Content to be objectionable or in violation of these Terms or of our User Conduct Terms. We have the right to investigate violations of these Terms or conduct that affects the Services. We may also consult and cooperate with law enforcement authorities to prosecute users who violate the law or other legal requirements, including providing such authorities with access to any Content on the Site.
Sumo Tours respects copyright law and expects its users to do the same. It is Sumo Tours’s policy to terminate, in appropriate circumstances, Account holders who repeatedly infringe the rights of copyright holders. Please see Sumo Tours’s Copyright Policy at https://www.sumotours.net/privacy-policy/, for additional information.
The Services may contain links to third-party websites or resources. We provide these links only as a convenience and are not responsible for the content, products or services on or available from those websites or resources or links displayed on such third-party websites. You acknowledge sole responsibility for and assume all risk arising from your use of any third-party websites or resources.
We may terminate these Terms or your access to the Services, at our sole discretion and without liability to you, at any time and with or without prior notice to you. Upon any termination, or cancellation of the Services, the following provisions will survive: User Conduct Terms, Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, and Dispute Resolution. Upon any termination, discontinuation or cancellation of the Services or your Account, we will promptly pay you any amounts that we in our discretion determine we are legally obligated to pay you.
The Services and Content are provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind. Without limiting the foregoing, we explicitly disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, quiet enjoyment, and non-infringement, and any warranties arising out of the course of dealing or usage of trade.
Although we do our best to work with Guides that are of a high quality, and we vet our Guides to try to ensure this, Sumo Tours makes no guarantee that the Experiences will meet your requirements, or regarding the quality of any Experience.
Sumo Tours makes no guarantee as to the identity, character, or conduct of users of the services and assumes no responsibility for a Host’s or a Guest’s compliance with any applicable laws and regulations. You agree to take reasonable precautions in all communications and interactions with other users of the Services with whom you communicate or interact as a result of your use of the Services, including without limitation, Guests and Guides, particularly if you decide to meet offline or in person, regardless of whether such meetings are organized by Sumo Tours. Sumo Tours explicitly disclaims all liability for any act or omission of any Guest, Host, or other third party.
You will defend, indemnify, and hold Sumo Tours and its affiliates and subsidiaries (and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents) harmless against any claims, disputes, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, regulatory fines, and costs and expenses; including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees arising out of, or in any way connected with, (i) your access to or use of the Site, Services or Content, including without limitation your booking or provision of an Experience; (ii) your breach of these Terms; or (iii) your Content.
You acknowledge and agree that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the entire risk arising out of your access to and use of the Services and Content, your providing or booking of any Experience via the Services, and any contact you have with other users of the Services, whether in person or online, remains with you.
Neither Sumo Tours nor any other party involved in creating, producing, or delivering the Services or Content, will be liable for (i) any incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages, including lost profits, loss of data or use or goodwill, service interruption, computer damage, or system failure, or the cost of substitute products or services; (ii) any damages for personal or bodily injury or emotional distress arising out of or in connection with these terms; (iii) the use of or inability to use the Services or Content; (iv) any communications, interactions or meetings with other users of the Services or other persons with whom you communicate or interact as a result of your use of the Services; (vi) booking of any Experience via the Services; whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence), product liability or any other legal theory, and whether or not Sumo Tours has been informed of the possibility of such damage, even if a limited remedy set forth herein is found to have failed of its essential purpose. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you.
Except for our obligations to refund amounts to the appropriate Guests if applicable, in no event will Sumo Tours’s aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with these Terms and your use of the Services, or from any communications, interactions or meetings with other users of the Services or other persons with whom you communicate or interact as a result of your use of the Services, exceed the amounts you have paid or owe for bookings via the Services as a Guest in the twelve (12) month period prior to the event giving rise to the liability or the limitations of damages set forth above are fundamental elements of the basis of the bargain between Sumo Tours and you.
These Terms and any action related thereto will be governed by the laws of Japan without regard to its conflict of laws provisions.
All disputes, controversies, or differences which may arise between the parties hereto, out of or in relation to or in connection with these Terms shall be finally settled by arbitration in Tokyo in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association.
You and Sumo Tours agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to (a) these Terms or the breach, termination, enforcement, interpretation or validity thereof, or (b) the use of the Site, Services, or Content (collectively, “Disputes”) will be settled by binding arbitration, except that each party retains the right: (i) to bring an individual action in small claims court and (ii) to seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation or violation of a party’s copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents, or other intellectual property rights (the action described in the foregoing clause (ii) will hereafter be referred to as “IP Protection Action”). The exclusive forum, jurisdiction, and venue of any IP Protection Action will be the courts located in Tokyo and each of the parties hereto waives any objection to jurisdiction and venue in such courts. You acknowledge and agree that you and Sumo Tours are each waiving the right to a trial by jury or to participate as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class action or representative proceeding. Further, unless both you and Sumo Tours otherwise agree in writing, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of any class or representative proceeding. If this specific paragraph is held unenforceable in a putative class or representative proceeding, then the agreement to arbitrate will be deemed void. Except as provided in the preceding sentence, this “Dispute Resolution” section will survive any termination of these Terms.
The arbitration will be administered by the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (“JCAA”) in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (the “JCAA Rules”) then in effect, except as modified by this “Dispute Resolution” section (The JCAA Rules are available at http://www.jcaa.or.jp/e/arbitration/rules.html). The Commercial Arbitration Rules of Japan will govern the interpretation and enforcement of this Section.
A party who desires to initiate arbitration must provide the other party with a written Demand for Arbitration as specified in the JCAA Rules. (The JCAA provides the form, Request for Arbitration, on their website http://www.jcaa.or.jp/e/arbitration/docs/eae113a0c2038dbe4bb697cd0f86d24d4812f1c4.pdf. The arbitrator will be either a retired judge or an attorney licensed to practice law and will be selected by the parties from the JCAA’s roster of arbitrators. If the parties are unable to agree upon an arbitrator within seven (7) days of delivery of the Demand for Arbitration, then the JCAA will appoint an arbitrator in accordance with the JCAA Rules.
Unless you and Sumo Tours otherwise agree, the arbitration will be conducted in the county where you reside. If your claim does not exceed 1,000,000 Japanese Yen, then the arbitration will be conducted solely on the basis of the documents that you and Sumo Tours submit to the arbitrator, unless you request a hearing or the arbitrator determines that a hearing is necessary. If your claim exceeds 1,000,000 Japanese Yen, your right to a hearing will be determined by the JCAA Rules. Subject to the JCAA Rules, the arbitrator will have the discretion to direct a reasonable exchange of information by the parties, consistent with the expedited nature of the arbitration.
The arbitrator will render an award within the time frame specified in the JCAA Rules. The arbitrator’s decision will include the essential findings and conclusions upon which the arbitrator based the award. Judgment on the arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The arbitrator’s award of damages must be consistent with the terms of the “Limitation of Liability” section above as to the types and amounts of damages for which a party may be held liable. The arbitrator may award declaratory or injunctive relief only in favor of the claimant and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by the claimant’s individual claim. If you prevail in arbitration you will be entitled to an award of attorneys’ fees and expenses, to the extent provided under applicable law. Sumo Tours will not seek, and hereby waives all rights it may have under applicable law to recover, attorneys’ fees and expenses if it prevails in arbitration.
Your responsibility to pay any JCAA filing, administrative and arbitrator fees will be solely as set forth in the JCAA Rules.
Notwithstanding the terms of “Changes to Terms or Services” above, if Sumo Tours changes this “Dispute Resolution” Section after the date you first accepted these Terms (or accepted any subsequent changes to these Terms), you may reject any such change by sending us written notice (including by email to sumootours@gmail.com) within 30 days of the date such change became effective, as indicated in the “Last Updated” date below or in the date of Sumo Tours’s email to you notifying you of such change. By rejecting any change, you are agreeing that you will arbitrate any Dispute between you and Sumo Tours in accordance with the provisions of this “Dispute Resolution” section as of the date you first accepted these Terms (or accepted any subsequent changes to these Terms).
These Terms constitute the entire and exclusive understanding and agreement between Sumo Tours and you regarding the Site, Services, and Content, and any bookings or provision of Experiences made via the Services, and these Terms supersede and replace any and all prior oral or written understandings or agreements between Sumo Tours and you regarding the Services, Content, and any bookings or provision of Experiences made via the Services. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of these Terms invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the other provisions of these Terms will remain in full force and effect.
You may not assign or transfer these Terms, by operation of law or otherwise, without Sumo Tours’s prior written consent. Any attempt by you to assign or transfer these Terms, without such consent, will be null and of no effect. Sumo Tours may freely assign or transfer these Terms without restriction. Subject to the foregoing, these Terms will bind and inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns.
Any notices or other communications provided by Sumo Tours to you under these Terms, including those regarding modifications to these Terms, will be given by Sumo Tours: (i) via email; or (ii) by posting to the Site. For notices made by e-mail, the date of receipt will be deemed the date on which such notice is transmitted. These Terms apply only to Sumo Tours and you. These Terms are not intended to and shall not create any third party beneficiary rights, except as expressly provided in these Terms.
Sumo Tours’s failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of future enforcement of that right or provision or of any other right or provision. The waiver of any right or provision will be effective only if in writing and signed by a duly authorized representative of Sumo Tours. Except as expressly set forth in these Terms, the exercise by either party of any of its remedies under these Terms will be without prejudice to its other remedies under these Terms or otherwise.
Your opinion matters to us! If you’d like to provide feedback to us about the Services, please go ahead and email us at sumootours@gmail.com.
You made it through our Terms–good for you! Now go and enjoy the Services of the Sumo Tours platform by booking an Experience or applying to become a host!
Last Updated: October 16, 2024
