Terms and Conditions

1. Booking and payment

To reserve your place on one of our tours, please complete a booking form and submit it. The tour contract will become valid when UMESEKO TOUR receives the booking form. The following booking conditions form the basis of your contract with UMESEKO TOUR. Please read them carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations. By asking us to confirm your booking, we are entitled to assume that you have had the opportunity to read and have read these booking conditions and agree to them.

2. Cancellations and refunds

If you need to cancel your booking once it has been confirmed, a party leader must immediately advise UMESEKO TOUR via e-mail or phone call. If you cancel a tour for any reasons, you will be charged cancellation fee based on “Cancellation Charges” below. Please note that time periods will be calculated according to Japan Standard Time (JST), which is equivalent to UTC+9.

Cancellation Charges:

  • 31 days or more prior to the tour date: 0% of a tour fee
  • 15 days to 30 days prior to the tour date: 10% of a tour fee
  • 8 days to 14 days prior to the tour date: 30% of a tour fee
  • 4 days to 7 days prior to the tour date: 50% of a tour fee
  • 1 day to 3 days prior to the tour date: 80% of a tour fee
  • Within 1 day prior to the tour date or no show: 100% of a tour fee

These charges are applied when you personally cancel a tour by reasons of health, transportation and weather. Please note that there is no exception when you still have other transportations such as bus or taxi even if a train you are supposed to take is suspended or delayed for some reasons like natural disaster. We strongly recommend you make a flexible plan and look up some alternative ways or transportations in advance. The cancellation charges are also applied when you mistakenly booked a tour and paid for it. Only when there are 7 days or more prior to the tour date, it is an exception if you notify us to cancel your booking within 12 hours after booking. When a cancellation is made from our side for some reasons like bad weather, it is also an exception and we will charge you no cancellation fee as described on #4 below. In either case, we will refund a total tour fee minus the cancellation fee and the handling fee to your credit card account. After the tour instruction on the tour date, if you or some of your group need to cancel to join the bike tour due to the fact that you cannot ride on a bike safely for some reasons, no refund is given. It is also applied when a bike does not fit your body unexpectedly even though you meet the bike height limit (145-185cm). You reserve the right to reschedule a tour with no additional cost within 2 days before and after the tour date if available seats are still left. If you reschedule it more than 2 days before or after, your booking is regarded as canceled and you will be charged the cancellation fee as above. The notification of rescheduling must be done 7 days before the tour date, and the cancellation charges above are applied if you notify us within 7 days by any reasons including health and transportation. When we issue a full or some amount of refund due to any customers’ personal reasons, the handling fee (1.8% of total amount of refund) is required. It is also applied when you change your tour and we need to refund you difference of tour fee.

3. If we change your tour

While we will do our best to operate all tours as advertised, we reserve the right to change and correct errors in any of the facilities, services or itineraries described on our website at any time before or after your booking is confirmed. Most changes are minor but we occasionally have to make a significant change. If a significant change has to be made, we will inform you as soon as reasonably possible, if there is time before departure.

4. If we cancel your tour

While we will do our best to operate all tours as advertised, we reserve the right to cancel a tour for some reasons like poor weather or bad road condition. If we have to cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible. If there is time to do so before departure and the cancellation does not result from your failure to pay, we will offer you a choice of purchasing an alternative tour offered as a result of consolidation or another available tour from us (in either case, paying or receiving a refund in respect of any difference in price) or receiving a full refund of all money paid to us in advance. When a full or partial refund is required, please note that we may deduct the handling fee from the amount of refund. Also, we cannot pay any cancellation, amendment or other charges you may incur in relation to any transport or other arrangements which you have to change or cancel as a result of the cancellation of your tour.

5. Force majeure

Except where otherwise expressly stated in these conditions, we regret we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our obligations under our contract with you is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any injury, damage, loss or expense of any nature as a result of “force majeure”. In these conditions, “force majeure” means any event which we or the supplier of services in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include whether actual or threatened war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, disease, fire, accident (car, train, plane and so on) and all similar events outside our control.

6. Travel and cancellation insurance

We strongly suggest you have travel insurance when you join in our tour. You and your belongings are at all times solely at your own risk. You are wholly responsible for arranging your own insurance. You must ensure that you have personal travel insurance with protection for the full duration of tour in respect of at least medical expenses, injury, death, repatriation, cancellation and curtailment, with adequate and appropriate cover including medical emergency helicopter repatriation. If you make your own arrangements you should ensure that there are no exclusion clauses limiting or excluding protection for the type of activities included in your tour. You must ensure that all travel insurance purchased meets your particular requirements and you should arrange supplementary insurance if needed.

7. Health and fitness requirements

To fully enjoy and benefit from our experience, you should be in good health and physical condition. If you have a medical, physical or mental condition you must disclose this to us upon booking. You are also obliged to do the same if your condition changes prior to departure.

8. Assumption of risk and safety declaration

You acknowledge that:

  • Cycling tours by their very nature, compared with other gentle tours, can be more challenging and demanding with a commensurately higher level of risk and involve potential exposure to injury and possibly death.
  • The additional dangers and risks associated with adventure tour may include difficult and dangerous terrain, extremes of weather, including sudden and unexpected changes, remoteness from normal medical services and from communications and evacuation difficulties in the event of illness or injury.
  • We reserve the right to withdraw any person who in our opinion is likely to endanger themselves or others. We also reserve the right to cancel any activity if we become concerned for any reasons for your safety or that of any other person.
  • You must follow our instructions and use any safety equipment provided at all times. For the above reasons you accept the inherent and increased dangers and risks associated with the proposed adventure and the accompanying risk of injury, death or property damage or loss.

9. Release and waiver of liability

In consideration of UMESEKO TOUR accepting your booking and in consideration of you being permitted by UMESEKO TOUR to join the tour to the extent permitted by law, you release, waive, discharge, hold harmless and agree to indemnify UMESEKO TOUR and its officers, employees, agents, licensees, guides and other representatives from all claims, actions or losses for bodily injury, property damage, wrongful death, loss of services, loss of profits, consequential, exemplary, indirect or punitive damages or otherwise which may arise out of or occur during your travel in connection with the tour or any activities conducted in conjunction there within unless caused by the willful negligence or wrongful act of UMESEKO TOUR and its employees and regardless of the situation or circumstances giving rise to the claim you waive any claims you have, or may at any time have, against UMESEKO TOUR and its employees and you agree, by accepting the additional inherent dangers and risks associated with the tour, not to make any claim against or seek any compensation from UMESEKO TOUR and its employees in respect of any personal injury, illness or death suffered by you or damage to or loss of property sustained by you as a result of your participation in the tour. To the extent permitted by law, all our liability for damage to your property, disruption to tour plans, or mental injury is excluded.

10. Privacy

The information supplied by you on the booking form will only be used and viewed by UMESEKO TOUR. However, in the unlikely event of an accident, any special medical or personal information may be supplied to medical or emergency services personnel. From time-to-time, our staff, customers and suppliers may take photographs and video footage of tours in progress, including pictures of our customers. These pictures may be used in future marketing materials and stored physically and digitally. If you do not wish for your family to be filmed or for your pictures to be taken or used in this manner, please let us and/or the photographer know at the start of your tour.