Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026-10-21

1. Acceptance

By accessing or using the Japan Places API ("Service"), you agree to these Terms. If you disagree, do not use the Service.

2. Definitions

• API: The Japan Places API endpoints at https://japan-places.local-connect-design.trade/api/v1
• Derived Signals: The 5 computed datasets (municipality census, quality scores, station catchment, chain detection, aliveness index)
• x402: The open HTTP payment standard for per-call billing (402 Payment Required, settled on-chain through a facilitator). See docs.x402.org.

3. License Grant

Free Tier (CC BY 4.0)

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to:

• Access and use the Free endpoints
• Store, cache, and modify the data
• Use commercially
• Redistribute with attribution
• Sublicense

Attribution required: Source: koteihi-lab Japan Data Foundry, derived from OpenPOI

Paid Tier (Commercial License)

Includes all Free tier rights plus:

• Higher rate limits (per purchased tier)
• x402 micropayment access to paid endpoints
• SLA (best effort on Cloudflare free tier)

4. Attribution Requirements

All uses (free or paid) must include visible attribution:

Source: koteihi-lab Japan Data Foundry, derived from OpenPOI

Per-record licenses and attributions fields must be preserved when redistributing raw POI data.

5. Rate Limits & Fair Use

Exceeding limits returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header. Automated scraping beyond fair use may result in key revocation. The monthly quota of a RapidAPI plan is enforced by RapidAPI's runtime; the per-minute limit is enforced by this API for every tier.

6. Payment & x402 Micropayments

RapidAPI Subscriptions (recommended)

• BASIC: $0/mo (1,000 calls/mo)
• PRO: $25/mo (250,000 calls/mo)
• ULTRA: $75/mo (2,000,000 calls/mo)
• MEGA: $150/mo (5,000,000 calls/mo)
• Billed and settled by RapidAPI (25% marketplace fee)
• See RapidAPI's monetization guide

x402 pay-per-call (no account, no API key)

• USDC on Base, settled through the Coinbase CDP facilitator
• $0.02 - $0.05 per call depending on the signal
• No monthly minimum. See docs.x402.org

7. Refund Policy

Refunds depend on which billing path you used. A request that does not complete is not charged in the first place, so there is nothing to refund for those.

RapidAPI subscriptions (monthly plans)

• Billing, taxes and payouts are handled by RapidAPI. Our share is remitted after RapidAPI's 25% marketplace fee, on their payout cycle.
• To request a refund, open a ticket with RapidAPI support referencing your subscription and the affected period. We support the request and do not contest refunds for unused quota.
• Timing follows RapidAPI's payout cycle, so a credit may not be visible on the same day. If you may need a refund, subscribe early in your billing period.

x402 per-call payments (USDC on Base)

• A request that returns 402 Payment Required is not charged: no funds move until the client settles the payment with the facilitator.
• Once a payment is settled on-chain, the USDC transfer into our wallet is final. Blockchain transfers cannot be reversed by us, so settled per-call payments cannot be refunded.
• If you need a refundable purchase, use a RapidAPI subscription instead.

See the x402 client/server specification for how verification and settlement work, and RapidAPI's monetization guide for plan billing and payouts.

8. Data Accuracy & Disclaimer

The Service is derived from open data sources (OpenPOI, Overture Maps, Japan Food Facilities, MLIT, e-Stat, etc.). We provide quality scores (G-3) and aliveness index (P-6) to help assess reliability, but:

• NO WARRANTY of accuracy, completeness, or fitness for purpose
• Data may contain closed businesses, coordinate errors, or outdated info
• Use quality scores (G-3) and aliveness index (P-6) to filter
• Verify critical decisions with primary sources

9. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:

• Our total liability shall not exceed $100 USD or fees paid in the last 3 months, whichever is greater
• No liability for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages
• No liability for data inaccuracies or business decisions based on the Service

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify us against claims arising from your use of the Service in violation of these Terms or applicable law.

11. Termination

We may suspend or terminate access for material breach (e.g., rate limit abuse, non-payment, illegal use). You may terminate anytime by ceasing use. Refunds are handled as described in section 7.

12. Governing Law

These Terms governed by Japanese law. Disputes resolved in Tokyo District Court.

13. Changes

We may update these Terms with 30 days' notice on this site. The change log is at /jp-places/changelog.html. Continued use constitutes acceptance.

14. Support Policy

Support is documentation-first and fully self-service. There is no human support. The complete reference for this API is:

• The OpenAPI specification served at /api/v1/openapi — the contract: every path, parameter, response code and plan entitlement.
• The machine-readable reference at /jp-places/llms.txt.
• Every error response carries a machine-readable reason and the next step, so no request needs a reply in order to be resolved.
• Known limitations and service status.

Billing questions, refunds and chargebacks on RapidAPI subscriptions are handled by RapidAPI support, not by us, because RapidAPI is the merchant of record and settles those payments (section 7). Settled x402 payments are final on-chain. A request that returns 402 is never charged, so there is nothing to refund for those.

Reporting a suspected data error is also self-service: the raw dataset version and its computed timestamp are returned on every response, so you can verify whether the value you saw is the current one.