How we make money

Japan First Timer is free, and there is no version of it that isn't. We don't sell your data, we don't run ads, and we never charge you for a plan. Instead, some of the links inside your itinerary are affiliate links: if you book through one, the booking site pays us a small commission. You pay the same price you would have paid going there directly.

Who actually pays us

As of August 2026, exactly one: Klook, which we use for activities and experiences. That is the only affiliate programme that has accepted us so far.

Your itinerary also contains links to accommodation and rail-pass sites, including Booking.com, Agoda and JRailPass. We have applied to some of those programmes and not to others, and none of them have accepted us yet — so today those links earn us nothing at all. They are there because you need somewhere to sleep and a way to get around, not because anyone is paying for the placement. When that changes, this page changes with it.

What money does not buy

No hotel, tour operator, restaurant or city has ever paid us to appear in an itinerary, and we have no arrangement under which they could. Your plan is written from your own answers — how long you have, where you land, what you care about, what you want to spend. Nothing is inserted into it because it pays better.

This matters more than it might sound. We only earn anything if you book something, and you will only book something if the plan is genuinely good enough to follow. A recommendation that wastes your afternoon costs us exactly as much as it costs you.

What we record when you click

When you follow one of these links we log which kind of link it was and where it pointed, so we can tell which suggestions people actually find useful. That record has no name, no email and no IP address attached to it. The full detail is in our privacy policy.

Questions about any of this are welcome — write to hello@firsttimerjapan.com.
Last updated 24 August 2026.