Effective Date: September 6, 2026 Last Updated: September 11, 2026
1. Who We Are
This Privacy Policy describes how The First Pick (“we,” “us,” or “our”), operating the website https://the-first-pick.com (the “Site”), collects, uses, and shares information about visitors to the Site.
- Contact Email: privacy@the-first-pick.com
- Location: Japan
If you have any questions about this Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us using the details above.
2. Scope
This Policy applies to all visitors, readers, and users of the Site, regardless of where you access it from, including visitors located in the United States, the European Economic Area (“EEA”), the United Kingdom (“UK”), and elsewhere.
3. Information We Collect
3.1 Information You Provide Directly
- Comments you leave on the Site (name, email address, website URL, and comment content), if commenting is enabled.
- Any information you submit through a contact form, if one is available on the Site.
3.2 Information Collected Automatically
When you visit the Site, we and our third-party partners (described in Section 5) may automatically collect:
- IP address and approximate location derived from it
- Browser type, device type, and operating system
- Pages viewed, links clicked, referring/exit pages, and time spent on the Site
- Whether you clicked on an affiliate link, and which advertiser or offer you were referred to
3.3 Cookies and Similar Technologies
We use cookies, pixels, and similar tracking technologies for the following purposes:
| Category | Purpose | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly Necessary | Core site functionality (e.g., remembering comment details, login sessions for site administrators) | WordPress session/comment cookies |
| Analytics | Understanding how visitors use the Site | Google Analytics (GA4) |
| Advertising | Serving and measuring the performance of display advertising | Google AdSense, Meta/Facebook Pixel |
| Affiliate Tracking | Attributing referrals to advertisers so that commissions can be tracked and paid | CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction) tracking cookies, and tracking cookies from other affiliate networks we participate in |
Where required by applicable law (including for visitors in the EEA and UK), non-essential cookies (analytics, advertising, and affiliate tracking cookies) are only set after you have given your consent through the cookie consent banner displayed on the Site. You can withdraw or change your consent at any time via the “Cookie Settings” link in the Site footer.
If you do not consent, or if you disable cookies in your browser, some affiliate links may not correctly attribute a referral to us, and some site features may not function as intended.
4. Affiliate Marketing Disclosure
The First Pick participates in affiliate marketing programs, including but not limited to the CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction) network, and other affiliate networks and individual advertiser affiliate programs related to travel, accommodation, and related services in Japan.
This means that when you click on certain links on the Site and make a purchase or complete another qualifying action (such as a booking) with an advertiser, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products, services, and destinations that we believe may be of genuine interest to our readers, and our editorial content is independent of whether a particular link is monetized.
This disclosure is provided in accordance with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
5. Third-Party Services and Data Sharing
We share limited information with the following categories of third parties in order to operate the Site and monetize our content:
- CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction), a Publicis Groupe / Conversant company, and other affiliate networks we participate in — to track referrals and attribute commissions. See CJ’s privacy policy at https://www.cj.com/legal/privacy-policy-services-uk (services) and https://www.cj.com/legal/privacy-policy-uk (website/B2B).
- Google (Google Analytics and Google AdSense) — for site analytics and display advertising. See Google’s Privacy Policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy and opt-out options at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
- Meta Platforms, Inc. (Meta/Facebook Pixel) — for advertising measurement. See Meta’s Privacy Policy at https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/.
- Automattic (Gravatar and/or Akismet) — if comments are enabled, to display commenter avatars and detect spam. See https://automattic.com/privacy/.
- Individual advertisers — when you click an affiliate link, the advertiser’s own website will separately collect information about you in accordance with its own privacy policy, which we encourage you to review.
- Service providers — such as our hosting provider, solely to operate and secure the Site.
We do not sell your personal information for money. As described in Section 7 below, certain sharing of information with advertising and analytics partners may be considered a “sale” or “share” under California law, and you have the right to opt out of this.
6. Legal Basis for Processing (EEA/UK Visitors)
If you are located in the EEA or UK, we process your personal data on the following legal bases under the GDPR/UK GDPR:
- Consent — for non-essential cookies (analytics, advertising, and affiliate tracking), obtained via our cookie consent banner.
- Legitimate interests — for strictly necessary site functionality, fraud/spam prevention, and understanding aggregate site performance.
- Legal obligation — where we are required to retain or disclose information by law.
7. Your Privacy Rights
7.1 If You Are in the EEA or UK
You have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you; request correction or deletion of it; restrict or object to our processing; request a copy of your data in a portable format; and withdraw consent at any time (without affecting processing that occurred before withdrawal). You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority.
7.2 If You Are a California Resident
Under the CCPA/CPRA, you have the right to: know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose; request deletion of your personal information; opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of your personal information (including for cross-context behavioral advertising); and not be discriminated against for exercising these rights. To opt out, use the cookie consent banner’s preference settings or contact us using the details in Section 1. We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals where applicable.
7.3 All Visitors
If you have left a comment or created an account on the Site, you can request an export or deletion of the personal data we hold about you by contacting us, except where we are required to retain it for legal, security, or administrative purposes.
8. International Data Transfers
As we and our third-party partners (including CJ Affiliate, Google, and Meta) operate internationally, your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in countries other than your own, including the United States. Where required, such transfers are made subject to appropriate safeguards (such as Standard Contractual Clauses).
9. Data Retention
We retain comment data indefinitely to facilitate comment moderation, unless you request deletion. Analytics and advertising data is retained by our third-party providers in accordance with their own retention policies. We retain other personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, or as required by law.
10. Children’s Privacy
The Site is not directed to children under the age of 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can delete it.
11. Comments
When visitors leave comments on the Site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, plus the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (a “hash”) may be provided to the Gravatar service to check whether you are using it; Gravatar’s privacy policy is available at https://automattic.com/privacy/. After your comment is approved, your profile picture is visible to the public alongside your comment.
12. Embedded Content
Articles on the Site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, maps, or social media posts). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if you had visited that other website directly, and such websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that content.
13. Security
We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the information we collect. However, no method of transmission or storage over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
14. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal or regulatory reasons. The “Last Updated” date at the top of this page indicates when it was last revised. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.
15. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise any of your privacy rights, please contact us at: privacy@the-first-pick.com