Affiliate Disclosure & Editorial Independence

Last Updated: October 15, 2026. This page discloses how Red Sun Japan handles commercial relationships, affiliate links, and any compensation that influences the content we publish.

1. Regulatory framework

This page is published in compliance with theU.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR Part 255, which require clear disclosure of "material connections" between an endorser and a seller — including affiliate relationships, free product, paid sponsorships, and family or employment ties.

Equivalent laws that inform this policy include theUK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) guidance on influencer transparency, theBrazilian CONAR Code of Ethics on Advertising, and Japan's Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations (景品表示法). Where jurisdictions diverge, we apply the strictest standard.

2. Editorial independence — the non-negotiables

These rules govern every commercial decision the channel makes. They are not negotiable and have not changed since the channel launched:

1. No paid editorial coverage. We do not accept payment, free product, hospitality, or any other consideration in exchange for covering a story, an individual, a product, or a place.
2. No sponsored segments inside videos. Episodes do not contain ad reads, product placements, or branded integrations. The exception is platform-level mid-roll advertising (YouTube's own program), over which we have no editorial control.
3. No advance review by sponsors. Commercial partners never see scripts, narration drafts, or final cuts before publication.
4. Affiliate links do not bias coverage. If we link to a book on a topic, the link does not increase or decrease the chance that the book appears in our research. We link to things we would have cited anyway.
5. Corrections are public. If a commercial relationship is later found to have influenced a piece of content in a way we did not intend, we will publish a correction with the same prominence as the original piece.

3. What we mean by "affiliate link"

An affiliate link is a URL that contains a tracking parameter identifying the referrer (in our case, Red Sun Japan). If a visitor clicks the link and later makes a purchase, the affiliate program may pay us a small percentage of the sale. The price you pay is the same with or without the link — the commission comes out of the merchant's marketing budget, not your pocket.

Affiliate revenue is one of the smaller funding lines for the channel; it does not cover operating costs and has never been the reason an article was written. We disclose it because the law requires it, and because the relationship should be visible to you.

4. Categories we may link to (with editorial criteria)

When we link to a product, it falls into one of these categories. Each has a written editorial standard that must be met before the link goes live:

4.1 Books and primary sources

• Classical Japanese literature in translation (Tuttle, Princeton, Columbia). Criterion: scholarly translation with apparatus, not a paraphrased retelling.
• Edo-period reference works (kokushi, kaidan collections, historical dictionaries). Criterion: directly cited in the episode's research.
• Western-language scholarship that informed the script (historians, folklorists, anthropologists). Criterion: the work actually appears in the bibliography of the blog post, not a generic "related reading" list.

4.2 Tools and craft supplies

• Calligraphy supplies, sumi ink, washi paper. Criterion: professional-grade; we will not link to disposable tourist souvenirs.
• Historical reference books and replicas (armor, weapons, clothing) sold by museums or specialty vendors. Criterion: the vendor provides provenance and is known to the museum-studies community.

4.3 Art and merchandise from this site

• When the channel operates a Printify storefront for fine art prints, puzzles, and apparel, every product page is itself a commercial disclosure. The art is original to the channel or derived from public-domain ukiyo-e and emakimono; the commercial relationship is the storefront itself.

5. Categories we will never link to

These are lines we will not cross regardless of commission rate, audience request, or commercial pressure:

• Gambling products, prediction markets, or speculative financial products. Japanese history has too many lessons about speculative ruin.
• Supplements, wellness products, or anything ingested. The channel does not give health advice.
• VPN services, password managers, or "online safety" tools that profit from fear-based marketing.
• Any product whose marketing uses imagery of suffering, religious disrespect, or trivialization of historical atrocity.
• Dropshipping or "Amazon FBA aggregator" products with no verifiable brand identity.

6. How to identify a commercial link on this site

On the blog, every article that contains an affiliate link carries a visible disclosure at the top of the post body, formatted as:

"This article contains affiliate links. Red Sun Japan may earn a commission on qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you."

On social platforms, sponsored or affiliate content is tagged with the platform-native disclosure tools (e.g. YouTube's "Includes paid promotion" toggle, Instagram's "Paid partnership" label, X's ad marker). We do not rely on hashtags like#adalone, since the platforms' tools are more reliable.

Affiliate links themselves are not visually distinguished by color on the blog. We rely on the disclosure block at the top of the post rather than per-link markers, on the principle that "disclosure once, prominently" is more honest than a forest of small icons.

7. Editorial review process for affiliate inclusion

Before any affiliate link is published in a blog post, the editorial team runs the following check:

1. The linked product appears in the research bibliography of the post, or is a primary source directly cited in the narration.
2. The linked product has been independently reviewed by a recognized authority in its category (a museum, a scholarly publisher, a professional guild).
3. The vendor discloses provenance, materials, and country of origin clearly on the product page.
4. The commission rate is not the reason the product is being recommended; the editorial reason stands without the link.

If any of these checks fail, the link is removed and the post is re-published with the non-affiliate URL (or no link at all).

8. Conflict-of-interest disclosures

The editorial team is required to disclose, in the blog post or video description, any of the following relationships with a person, organization, or work that appears in a piece:

• Family, romantic, or close personal relationship.
• Current or recent (within 24 months) employment.
• Direct financial holding exceeding 1% of a public company.
• Receipt of any gift, hospitality, or free product valued at more than USD 50 in the 12 months prior to publication.

When in doubt, we disclose. When disclosure would be disproportionate to the size of the relationship, we still disclose.

9. AI-generated content and materials

Some of the channel's visual assets are AI-assisted. We mark those assets individually in the blog post where they appear, and we do not link to AI-generation services as a revenue source (i.e. we are not an "AI tools affiliate"). If that policy changes, this page will be updated before any new links are published.

10. Questions, complaints, and DMCA

If you believe a post on this site contains an undisclosed commercial relationship, please write tocontact@redsunjapan.comwith the URL of the post and a brief explanation. We will review and respond within 7 business days; if a correction is warranted, it will be published with the same prominence as the original post.

For general commercial and partnership inquiries (not corrections or complaints), write tocontact@redsunjapan.com.

11. Changes to this disclosure

We will update this page if our commercial relationships change in any material way (new affiliate programs, new categories of sponsored content, new regulatory requirements). Material changes will be reflected in the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page and in a short note in the next blog post that includes commercial content.

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