Affiliate Disclosure

Short version: some links on this site earn me a commission. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not decide what I recommend.

What an affiliate link is

Some of the links on Ao Teahouse go to shops that run affiliate programmes. If you follow one of those links and buy something, the shop pays me a small percentage of the sale. The price you pay is exactly the same as if you had gone to the shop directly.

Where you'll see them

Any guide containing affiliate links carries a notice at the top, before the first link appears. On social platforms I mark them with #affiliate or #ad. I don't use link shorteners or cloaked redirects — you can always see where a link goes before you click it.

What it doesn't change

• I write the guide first and add links afterwards, only where a link is genuinely useful to the reader.
• I am not paid to say anything specific. No shop has editorial input, review approval, or advance sight of what I publish.
• I recommend not buying things fairly often. A guide that talks you out of a purchase is worth more to me than one commission.
• If I ever receive a product for free, or write anything as part of a paid arrangement, it will be stated clearly in that specific article.

Programmes

I participate in affiliate programmes run by retailers of Japanese tableware, tea and household goods. As those relationships change over time, this page is the current record.

Questions

If anything here is unclear, or you think a link should have been disclosed and wasn't, please tell me — @ao_teahouse on Instagram. I'd rather fix it.