Terms of Service

01Who we are

Kyoto Shiitake Estate is operated by EXOS STUDIO, 5 Kōda, Keihoku Nakachi-chō, Ukyō-ku, Kyoto 601-0265, Japan. In these terms, "we" and "us" mean EXOS STUDIO; "you" means the member.

Our disclosure under Japan's Act on Specified Commercial Transactions is published here.

02What the membership is

A membership reserves one real oak log in our forest in Keihoku and marks it with your name and a log number. For as long as your membership runs, we tend that log and send you:

• a monthly report — photographs and notes from the forest, delivered digitally;
• a box of Kyoto craft each quarter, while your log is still sleeping;
• once your log fruits, the dried shiitake harvested from it — which takes the place of the quarterly box and continues after each harvest for roughly three years, until the log is spent.

The membership is a service, not a purchase of property. You do not acquire ownership of the log, the trees, the land, or any interest in them. The log stays in Keihoku and is never shipped. The engraved plate carries your name for the term of your membership; it remains our property, and we may remove it once your membership ends.

03What we cannot promise

Shiitake are grown outdoors on living oak, the old way. That is the point of this service, and it means some things are genuinely beyond our control.

• We do not guarantee a date. A newly inoculated log typically wakes after one to two full growing seasons. Yours may be sooner or later.
• We do not guarantee a quantity. Yield varies with the log, the weather and the season.
• We may replace your log. If your log fails, is damaged, or has not fruited after two full growing seasons, we will move your name and plate to another log at no cost to you. This is our sole obligation in that event.
• Weather, disease, natural disaster and shipping disruption may delay deliveries. We will tell you when they do.

04Reserving, billing and cancelling

• A $50 deposit reserves your log. It is refundable in full at any time before memberships open, and is credited against your first charge.
• Monthly — $100 per month, billed from the month your log is inoculated, and each month thereafter until you cancel.
• The Whole Log — $1,800, charged once, the month your log is inoculated. It covers the full journey to the log's final harvest, and does not renew.
• All prices are in US dollars. Payments are processed by Stripe; we never receive or store your card number.
• You may cancel a monthly membership at any time by email. Refunds are governed by our Refund Policy, which forms part of these terms.
• If a payment fails, we will contact you. If it remains unpaid after 14 days we may suspend or end the membership and release the log.

05Shipping, customs and food

We ship internationally from Kyoto with tracking. Shipping for the quarterly box is included; harvest shipping is billed separately at cost.

You are the importer of record. Customs duties, import taxes and clearance fees in your country are your responsibility, and are outside our control. It is your responsibility to check that dried mushrooms and the other contents may lawfully be imported where you live; we cannot ship where they may not.

Our dried shiitake is food. If you have allergies, tell us before your first harvest shipment.

06Your account and eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to hold a membership. Keep your contact and delivery details current — we cannot resend a parcel lost to an out-of-date address at our own cost.

Memberships are for personal use. You may give one as a gift, and you may ask us to transfer a membership to another person; we will not unreasonably refuse. You may not resell a membership or the harvest commercially without our written agreement.

07Photographs and content

The photographs, reports and writing we send you remain ours. You are welcome to share them privately or on your own social accounts with credit to Kyoto Shiitake Estate. You may not use them commercially, or in advertising, without our written permission.

We photograph the forest and the logs, including plates bearing members' names. If you would rather your name never appeared in anything we publish, tell us and we will keep it out.

08Ending a membership

You may end your membership at any time. We may end it if you do not pay, if you use the service unlawfully, or if we stop offering it. If we stop offering the service, we will refund any period you have paid for and not received.

09Liability

We take responsibility for delivering the service described here with reasonable care. To the extent the law allows, our total liability to you is limited to the amount you have paid us in the twelve months before the claim, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss.

Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud.

10Changes

We may update these terms. If a change materially affects you, we will email you at least 30 days before it takes effect, and you may cancel before it does. The date at the top of this page always shows the current version.

11Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Japan. Disputes we cannot settle between us will be heard by the Kyoto District Court as the court of first instance. Nothing here removes any consumer right you have under the law of the country you live in.