Guide-Interpreter Fee Regulations (Terms and Conditions)

The client of guide-interpreters must pay all expenses, including transportation expenses, admission fees and hotel charges, which are incurred when they provide guide service according to the itineraries agreed to in advance. In addition, the client must pay guide-interpreters the sum of the three types of fees and expenses (A), (B) and (C) listed below. Prior to the conclusion of guide-interpreter service contracts, the guide-interpreter must clearly present these three types of fees and expenses for the itineraries offered by their client. The client must firmly confirm these three types of fees and expenses.

The client of guide-interpreters must pay half-day (A1) or full-day (A2) fees for guide-interpretation service.
* The half-day fee (A1) refers to a fee paid if the length of time from the commencement of guide service to its termination is less than 4 hours.
* The full-day fee (A2) refers to a fee paid if the length of time from the commencement of guide service to its termination is 4 hours or more and less than eight hours.

The client of guide-interpreters must pay them for expenses incurred when they travel from their home to the place where they start their guide service and come home from the place where they terminate their guide service using public transportation.
* If guide-interpreters need to travel for starting work or coming home early in the morning or late at night when public transportation is not available, however, the client must pay them for necessary taxi fares.

If guide-interpretation service is provided during the period when breakfast, lunch or dinner is usually taken, the client of guide-interpreters must provide them with these meals free of charge or pay them a meal allowance of 1,000 yen, 1,500 yen and 2,000 yen for breakfast, lunch and dinner, respectively.
* The breakfast allowance shall be paid if guide service starts at 8:00 a.m. or earlier.
* The lunch allowance shall be paid if guide service extends to 12:30 p.m.
* The dinner allowance shall be paid if guide service extends to 7:00 p.m. or later.

Extra fees shall be paid under special conditions or circumstances as follows:

The half-day (A1) or full-day (A2) fee presented by guide-interpreters shall be paid when they attend to a group of one to nine persons. If they attend to a group of ten persons or more, they shall add one of the fees listed below to the basic guide-interpretation fee (A1 or A2) when they charge guide-interpretation fees.

* Group of 10-19 persons	: 10 percent of the basic guide-interpretation fee (A1 or A2)
* Group of 20-29 persons	: 20 percent of the basic guide-interpretation fee (A1 or A2)
* Group of 30-39 persons	: 30 percent of the basic guide-interpretation fee (A1 or A2)
* Group of 40-49 persons	: 40 percent of the basic guide-interpretation fee (A1 or A2)

If the client of guide-interpreters requests them to provide guide-interpretation service for more than eight hours a day and they agree to do so, they shall add one of the fees specified below to the basic full-day guide-interpretation fee (A2). If an extra fee based on the number of persons attended to applies, they shall add one of the fees specified below to the sum of the basic full-day guide-interpretation fee (A2) and the applicable extra fee based on the number of persons attended to (C1).
* For every one hour worked overtime, a fee of (A2) ÷ 8 x 1.20 or (A2 + C1) ÷ 8 x 1.20 shall be paid. Even if the length of time worked overtime is less than one hour, for example, ten minutes, the same formula shall apply to calculate an extra fee.
* Even if the job to which the basic half-day guide-interpretation fee (A1) applies is extended to exceed four hours for an unexpected reason, the guide-interpreter shall reserve the right to refuse the request for extension and come home. The reason is that he or she may have another job or an important appointment immediately after the half-day job. Therefore, if a job may exceed four hours, the client is recommended to reserve a guide-interpreter for full-day service. If the guide-interpreter accepts the request for extension and the total length of service time is more than four hours and less than eight hours, however, he or she shall charge the basic full-day guide-interpretation fee (A2) instead of the basic half-day guide-interpretation fee (A1). In addition, if the total length of service time exceeds eight hours, the guide-interpreter shall add an extra fee for each of the hours worked overtime to the full-day fee (A2) when they charge guide-interpretation fees.
* If guide-interpreters stay at the same hotel as their client, the period of time from the time when they leave the client at the end of their service on the day to the time when they join the client on the following day shall not be included in their service time. Naturally, no extra fee for overtime work shall apply to the period of time.

No extra fee shall apply to interpretation service provided as part of the guide service that inevitably arises in guide-interpretation service. If the client requests guide-interpreters to provide business or technical interpretation service during sightseeing and they accept such a request, however, the guide-interpreters shall charge 50 percent of the full-day fee (A2) as an extra fee whether they are assigned to a half-day (A1) or full-day (A2) job. If the requested interpretation service requires a high level of expertise, or if service consists mainly of interpretation rather than sightseeing, the guide-interpreter can charge technical interpretation fees they set on their own instead of the guide-interpretation fees stipulated in these Regulations.
* If the client requests technical interpretation service, he or she needs to explain details in advance to guide-interpreters he or she hires and reach a firm agreement with them concerning technical interpretation fees.

If guide-interpreters need accommodation the night before the commencement of service or after the termination of service because they live far away from the place where their service begins or ends, they shall charge an extra fee of 10,000 yen in addition to the hotel charges they actually pay for.
* If guide-interpreters need accommodation the night before the commencement of service and after the termination of service, they shall charge an extra fee of 20,000 yen for both nights.

In principle, the client of guide-interpreters shall develop tour itineraries and make tour arrangements according to the itineraries and then present the complete itineraries to the guide-interpreters for estimated guide-interpretation fees. Some clients, however, wish to seek the opinions or advice of guide-interpreters concerning routes, accommodations, restaurants, places to be visited, etc. For such a request for advice, the guide-interpreter shall separately charge a planning and consultation fee of 10,000 yen per tour to the client. The fee must be remitted to the bank account of the guide-interpreter involved prior to the start of planning and consultation. The paid fee shall not be refunded even if the tour is not materialized.

If the client cancels the guide-interpretation service contract already concluded with a guide-interpreter, the guide-interpreter shall charge a cancellation fee consisting of the sum of (A), (B) and (C) as calculated below for each of the days in the itinerary:

If cancelled on the day of the tour	: 100 percent of the sum of (A), (B) and (C)
If cancelled the day before or two days prior	: 80 percent of the sum of (A), (B) and (C)
If cancelled three to seven days prior	: 30 percent of the sum of (A), (B) and (C)

* For example, if a ten-day job with the sum of guide-interpretation fees per day at 40,000 yen is cancelled on the day when the tour starts, cancellation fees will be charged as follows:

Day 1 (cancelled on the day of the tour)	: 40,000 yen	(100 percent of 40,000 yen)
Day 2 (cancelled the day before)	: 32,000 yen	(80 percent of 40,000 yen)
Day 3 (cancelled two days prior)	: 32,000 yen	(80 percent of 40,000 yen)
Day 4 (cancelled three days prior)	: 12,000 yen	(30 percent of 40,000 yen)
Day 5 (cancelled four days prior)	: 12,000 yen	(30 percent of 40,000 yen)
Day 6 (cancelled five days prior)	: 12,000 yen	(30 percent of 40,000 yen)
Day 7 (cancelled six days prior)	: 12,000 yen	(30 percent of 40,000 yen)
Day 8 (cancelled seven days prior)	: 12,000 yen	(30 percent of 40,000 yen)
Day 9 (cancelled eight days prior)	: None
Day 10 (cancelled nine days prior)	: None
Total cancellation fees	: 164,000 yen

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

For payment of guide-interpretation fees, advances must be remitted in Japanese yen to the bank account designated by the guide-interpreter no later than ten days prior to the commencement of the tour. All expenses related to the remittance must be borne by the client. The balance must be paid in cash in full to the guide-interpreter on the day when the tour starts.

The amount of advances shall be as specified below:

For contracts on a one- to four-day tour	: Total contract price
For contracts on a five-day or longer tour	: Total contract price for the first four days

If the client cancels a tour, the guide-interpreter assigned must swiftly remit the amount obtained by deducting applicable cancellation fees from the advances received to the bank account designated by the client using the method of remittance designated by the client. In this case, all expenses related to the remittance shall be deducted from the amount to be reimbursed. In other words, they shall be borne by the client.