Chapter 1 General
Article 1(Application)
- 1. Charichari Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”) shall lend bicycles for shared use (hereinafter referred to as “Charichari”) to individual members or corporate members (collectively referred to as ‘Users’) of the Charichari shared bicycle service (hereinafter referred to as “the Service”) provided by the Company, in accordance with the provisions of these Terms. Users shall accept such bicycles on loan.
2. The Company may create usage guides and other materials in addition to these Terms, provided they do not violate laws and regulations. In the event of any discrepancy between these Terms and such usage guides or other materials, the usage guides or other materials shall take precedence.
3. Matters not stipulated in these Terms shall be governed by applicable laws and regulations.
Chapter 2 Member Registration
Article 2 (Registration)1.Personal or company users(hereinafter called registrator) who want to use this service will have to follow this agreement and register the account by the designated ways. We will consider the registration as the agreement from the registrator to follow all the listed content. 2.We will provide member ID to all the registrator, and we will consider the registration to be completed when personal account user receive the member ID and the company account user receive the notice written with member ID.
- 1.Personal or company users(hereinafter called registrator) who want to use this service will have to follow this agreement and register the account by the designated ways. We will consider the registration as the agreement from the registrator to follow all the listed content.
2.We will provide member ID to all the registrator, and we will consider the registration to be completed when personal account user receive the member ID and the company account user receive the notice written with member ID.
Article 3 (Registration conditions)
We have the right for declining the registration if the registrator applied to any of the following description:
(1)Misstatements, incorrect or any missing information was found in the registration.
(2)Registrator under 18 and who register without guardian’s permission.
(3)Registrator who can’t use designated payment methods or provide valid credit card.
(4)Registrator who have unsettled or delayed payment record.
(5)Registrator who is the member or have any connection to any group of gangsters.
(6)Any other behavior would be considered to be inappropriate as members
Article 4 (Registration modification)
- 1.Members who intend to modify the personal information which used to register our service(hereinafter call registration information),will have to proceed by following the designated methods.
2.Members agree that if the notification or mail delivery doesn’t arrive on time, the relative modification still remain valid because it will not be considered to be our responsibility for any late arrival.
Chapter 3 Rental Process
Article5 (Rental process)
- 1.We keep all the bike at the designated place(hereinafter called Port), where all the members can rent and return the bike. 2.All the members must follow the designated ways to rent and return the bikes placed at the port.
3.We reserve the right at any time after receipt of your order to accept or decline your order for business operation and any other reason.We further reserve the right for not accepting your claim regarding the order decline.
4.Members must make sure that there is no personal belongings left when return the bike and we do not take any responsibility for any claim about lost items.
Article 6 (Regular maintenance)
We conduct regular maintenance on all the ports and bikes based on established standard.
Article 7 (Safety check before rental)
- 1.Members shall make sure the bike is in available condition before rental by checking if each parts of the bike works properly.
2.Members must contact our service center(support@kotobike.jp), once find situation on any damage or stolen parts of the bikes and stop rental immediately. We are not responsible for any damage or loss of personal property due to utilization without reporting defective bikes.
3.Rental without reporting the damage of the bike will be considered to be fully accepting the condition of the bike.
Article 8 (Rental conditions)
Member who meets any of the following descriptions will not be allowed to use the bike.
- (1)Riding under the influence of alcohol
(2)Members with drug,stimulant drug,cocaine or any other poisoning symptoms.
(3)The user and the membership owner is not the same person.
(4)Multiple users on single bike.
(5)Members with unsettled payment or delayed payment record.
(6)Any other inappropriate user behavior.
Article 9 (Cancellation of Subscription Membership)
1.We reserves the right to temporary or permanently cancel subscription membership and request the return of the rental bike without notice in advance, if the member meet any of the following descriptions.
- (1)Register with false or incorrect personal information.
(2)Members who violate this and any other of our agreement.
(3)Traffic accident caused due to member’s improper utilization
(4)Members with unsettled payment or delayed payment record.
(5)Members who meet the descriptions listed in article 3
(6)Members who cannot be reach and whose membership is considered to be unqualified to renew
2.We are not responsible for all the damage or loss of personal property and the request of payment return will not be accepted when the membership cancellation happen due to the cause listed above.
Chapter 4 Fees
Article 10 (Fees)
- 1.Members pay for the rental of bikes, overtime charge and any other possible price as the usage fees of this service.
2. Our company shall publish usage fees on the websites and apps we operate.
3.We reserve the right to modify the fees at any time without notice in advance.
4.The payment methods of the usage fees is determined separately.
Chapter 5 Member ID
Article 11 (Issue of member ID)
We issue the necessary ID(hereinafter called member ID) to all the members for them to use our service.
Article 12 (Management of member ID)
- 1.All the members ID will be appropriately held and managed under our absolute discretion.
2.The member ID will only be provided for member’s personal use, and will not be provided to any other member or third party.
Article 13(Loss,theft and forgery of member ID)
- 1.All the members shall immediately report to our designated contact, when encounter the situation of loss, theft or any other illegally damage of member ID.
2.If necessary, members shall provide relative personal information and support to help the investigation when receive our request.
Chapter 6 Members Responsibility
Article 14 Members responsibility
Members shall assume all responsibility and liability for any operation of our bikes.
Article 15 (Prohibited acts)
All the members shall agree to not having any of the following action when using the bike.
- (1)Let people who don’t have membership use the bike.
(2)Using our bike for relative delivery business without our permission and legality.
(3)Sublease to people without membership or as collateral for any purpose.
(4)Drunk riding or riding with dangerous behavior.
(5)Ignoring traffic regulation.
(6)Riding in any restricted and inappropriate areas.
(7)Riding the bike on sidewalk.
(8)Damage, crash, disassembly,remodeling or removing any parts of the bike.
(9)Parking to any legal or private space without permission.
(10)Continuously riding without reporting defective parts.
(11)Using our bike for competition or riding with tricks.
(12)Insuring our bike without the permission.
(13)Utilization violating laws, rules and any other regulations.
(14)Other behavior to be considered as inappropriate and illegal
Article 16 (Fine policy)
- 1.All members agree to pay any fines, fees, penalties, impounding charges, court costs, traffic tickets, tolls and/or any other charges incurred by us that result from your improper parking behavior, or as a result of your violating any law, rule, regulation, and/or ordinance while using a bike.
2.Members agree to pay for any loss and damage of us and relative third party which occured due to your inappropriate user behavior.
Article 17(Illegal parking policy)
- 1. When a user parks a bicycle in a location prohibited under Article 15, Item 9 (hereinafter referred to as “abandonment”), the user shall be liable for all costs incurred by the Company for the removal, relocation, storage, etc., of the abandoned bicycle, usage fees until its return, and all other damages incurred by the Company.
- 2. In the case described in the preceding paragraph, if the Company receives notification from local authorities, police, or similar entities regarding the abandonment or removal of a bicycle, the Company shall move the bicycle to a location designated by the Company and require the user, as the violator, to comply with legal measures. The user shall comply with this requirement.
- 3. If the Company advances payment for the expenses described in Paragraph 1, the user shall be liable to promptly reimburse the Company for these expenses.
4. If the user commits a prohibited act (abandonment) as defined in Article 15, Item 9, the user shall pay the Company a penalty fee as specified in Appendix 1 of these Terms. However, if the actual damages incurred by the Company exceed the amount of the penalty fee specified in Appendix 1 of these Terms, the user shall be liable to compensate the Company for the full amount of the actual damages incurred by the Company.
Chapter 7 Reporting of accident, damage or lost
Article 18 (Reporting of accident)
Members agree to report to relative authority and conform to the following procedures when having any accident during the ride.
- (1)Members shall report to local police immediately and accordingly.
(2)Members shall also report to our information center(support@kotobike.jp)
(3)Members shall help providing relative document and information for necessary insurance claim with full cooperation. (4)Before having any settlement or agreement with third party regarding the accident, members shall have our acknowledge in advance.
(5)Attempt to solve and deal with the accident responsibly and appropriately.
Article 19 (Reporting of malfunction)
- 1.Members agree to stop riding the bike and report to our service contact(support@kotobike.jp)immediately for our further instruction when having malfunction or any sign of damage or unusual.
2.Members agree that even properly managed bike may malfunction which might cause injury during the ride and we do not have any responsibility for your physical or financial loss to your property.
3.Members agree to pay for all the fees and charges (maintenance, storage,carrying...etd), if it is caused by members’ personal responsibility.
Article 20 (Battery charge)
Members agree to immediately contact our service center (support@kotobike.jp)and follow our instruction to the nearest port or charger when the battery ran out or is about to.
Article 21 (Reporting of stolen or loss)
Members agree to report to our service contact (suppot@kotobike.jp)and the local police for further instruction when the rented bike is lost or stolen, and to be fully responsible for all necessary fees and charges.
Article 22 (Force Majeure)
- 1.Members shall contact our service center for further instruction when the bike is not able to be returned due to any force majeure events or other circumstances.
2.Members agree that if the bike becomes unavailable to use due to any force majeure events or other circumstances during the ride, the rental would be considered to be over immediately.
Article 23 (Disclaimers)
Except for our specific intentional or accidental behavior, we are not responsible for any loss or damage to personal property and will not accept any claims on any types of compensation, and the maximum refund will be the amount which members paid for the rental.
Article 24 (Insurance)
- 1.We will carry all relative insurance associated with the rental duration for all users based on the following terms, and all the members reserve the limited right of compensation against the obligation to any form of damage under the following conditions:
(1)Obligation to the damage against person and property 100,000,000 yen in maximum. <Specific Policy> Litigation cost 10,000,000 yen in maximum, initial litigation cost 10,000,000 yen in maximum, victim treatment cost 500,000 yen in maximum per person (total 100,000,000 yen in maximum per case) *Only applicable to accident occurred during the ride or obligation against the damage of third party’s life, body or property caused by the usage of bike which determined by the applicable law. - 2.The users and members agree to take the full liability for the amount which is considered to be more than the maximum listed above.
.3.For the accident which has not been reported to us or relative police department, or caused by illegal or inappropriate behavior, users and members agree that it will not be applicable to the insurance policy and reserve the right of compensation.
4.Members also agree to take full responsibility for relative damage if the situation doesn’t apply to the conditions listed above or the case of disclaimer.
5. This agreement is only a overview, for more details regarding the insurance please contact through the following mail:
support@kotobike.jp
Chapter 8 Return
Article 25 (Return procedure)
- 1.All members shall return the bike to any station before the rental time end or the ticket become invalid
2.The return will be considered successfully completed after receive the the notice from the station.
3.Members must confirm there is no left personal belongings and crash or damage to the bike before return it to the station. - 4.Members agree to be charged for overtime fee except the situation listed in Article 19 to Article 22 if the bike was not able to be returned during the valid rental period, and. However, if the bike is not properly returned, members will agree to pay 100,000 yen for relative loss.
5.Members agree to contact service center(support@kotobike.jp) immediately for further instruction if the bike was not able to be returned due to unavoidable reason or situation listed in Article 18, However, members will also agree to pay for necessary carrying or any other operation charge for relative arrangement.
Article 26 (Unsuccessful return)
- 1.In case of no sign of return after rental period, no reply to our return request or considered to steal the bike with unidentifiable positioning, we reserve the right to charge relative criminal suit against the member.
2.Based on the situation listed above, the member will have to be responsible for the relative fees and charges to our claim of loss.
Chapter 9 Personal Information
Article 27 (Reservation of rights)
1. Our company will use users' personal information obtained in connection with providing this service (including the former kotobike service), as well as ChariChari location information and travel route information, in accordance with the provisions of the ChariChari Terms of Use. Users shall be deemed to have accepted and agreed to the contents of the Privacy Policy separately established by our company.
2. Users hereby agree in advance that their personal information held by Kyube Co., Ltd., the former operator of the old kotobike service, will be transferred to our company as part of the succession of this service.
Article 28 (Third party)
1. Our company may provide users' personal information to third parties in the following cases:
- (1)Upon members’ permission and consent
(2)Request from government, court or relative office and authority.
(3)Request from bank, credit card company and any other financial organization who is in charge of collecting members’ payment.
(4)Request from our contracted and delegated business partners.
(5)To exercise our legal right
(6) When disclosing to the successor in the event of a business succession due to a merger, company split, or other reason (7)Circumstance recognized by relative privacy law and regulation.
(8)Request from our contracted partners in order to carry out relative promotion event and marketing campaign. (9)Request from our contracted partners in order to carry out the project on service improvement, business development or marketing research.
(10)Relative business operation purpose without any limitation.
2.Information provided to relative third party according to items above will be referred to the following:
(1)Information provided by members(not necessarily limited to name, mail address, phone number and residence) (2)Information provided by social network partner and any other third partner which relate to our service(not necessarily limited to name, mail address, phone number and residence)
(3)Information acquired by our system and hardware automatically during member’s usage(not necessarily limited to IP address, terminal identity, GPS, positioning, cookie and access data)
3.We provide members’ personal information according to the items above by the way of online and offline media such as CD-ROM or paper...etc
4.Member reserve the right to require us that we stop providing specific information to other third party, however, we will not be responsible to any obligation regarding the information we provided according the relative privacy law and regulation.
Chapter 10 Other Rules
Article 29 (Penalty)
Users who fail to fulfill monetary obligations arising from the use of this Service (including the former kotobike service) shall pay to our company a late payment penalty at an annual rate of 14.6% (calculated on a daily basis assuming 365 days per year) and the delinquency processing fee specified in Article 17, Paragraph 7 of the Charichari Terms of Use. Any transfer fees incurred for this payment shall be borne by the user.
Article 30 (Governing law)
The establishment, legality, fulfillment and interpretation of this agreement and terms are applicable to the law of Japan.
Article 31 (Jurisdictions)
These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Japan. Any dispute arising out of the use of the Service or the rights and obligations under these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Tokyo Summary Court or the Tokyo District Court as the court of first instance, depending on the nature of the dispute.
Article 32 (Amendment)
We reserve the right to partly amend this agreement and notify through our official website and application, however, we are not responsible to make the notice to all the members in advance.
Article 33 (Notice)
Members agree that we not responsible for any loss if member didn’t receive our relative notice sent to the registered contact such as phone number, and mail address.
This agreement is made on and remain valid from 28th of February, 2019
- 1. (Applicable Users) These Terms and Conditions apply to former Kotobike service users (members under the previous terms) due to ChariChari Co., Ltd. succeeding the Kotobike share cycle service operated by Kyubee Co., Ltd. through an absorption-type company split.
- 2. (Effective Date) These Terms and Conditions shall come into effect on December 1, 2025. As of the same date, the previous Kotobike Terms established by Kyubee Co., Ltd. shall be abolished and replaced by these Terms and Conditions.
- 3. (Transitional Measures) During the transition period from the effective date until March 31, 2026, ports, bicycles (ChariChari), and in-app displays previously provided under the old Kotobike service may continue to use the name “Kotobike” or other previous names. Even during this period, ChariChari Co., Ltd. shall bear all legal rights, obligations, and responsibilities related to the use of the old Kotobike service.
1. Removal
If a bicycle and its equipment are removed by municipalities or other authorities due to violation of Article 15, Item 9:
Penalty: 14,000 JPY
2. Parking in Paid Bicycle Lots
If a user parks or leaves a bicycle in a paid bicycle lot or similar in violation of Article 15, Item 9, and the bicycle and equipment are collected by our company (including third parties commissioned by us):
Penalty: 9,000 JPY
3. Collection Due to Abandoned Bicycles
If a bicycle and its equipment are left or parked by the user in violation of Article 15, Item 9, and are collected by our company (including third parties commissioned by us) (except in cases described in the previous item regarding paid bicycle lots):
Penalty: 7,000 JPY
4. Nuisance Parking
If a user violates Article 15, Item 9 (except in cases described in the previous three items: removal, parking in paid lots, collection due to abandoned bicycles):
Penalty: 7,000 JPY
5. Violation of Return Procedures such as Failing to Lock the Bicycle
If a user violates Article 26 (except in cases described in the previous four items: removal, parking in paid lots, collection due to abandoned bicycles, nuisance parking):
Penalty: 7,000 JPY