Forum - View topicAnswerman - What Is That Little Stamp That Japanese People Use To Sign Papers?
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FlowerAiko
 Posts: 224 |
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Wow, that's really interesting! So I guess these kinds of stamps and seals were a global thing once but in many places fell out of favor. |
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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Not to mention someone could literally just steal yours, right? And use it willy-nilly if they wanted. Regardless of the forensic examinations that are out there, if someone takes your hanko and you don't notice it for a few days, they could do a lot of shit within that time period. I worked in an office with something like this for a while and the damn thing switched hands daily. We all used it. |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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I do wonder also--these stamps have different rules in different places in regards to foreigners. If a foreigner moves, do they have to get a new stamp, or will their stamps remain valid for life? Is it also easy to obtain a new one if your stamp is lost, stolen, or damaged (whether foreigner or native)?
I'd imagine that stamps would've been easy identification when literacy rates were still low. Not everyone could read someone's name on a paper, but anyone could remember a distinctive marking from a stamp. EDIT: Finished my statement, which I didn't realize was incomplete. Last edited by leafy sea dragon on Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:00 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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And, since it was a ring, it would remain as verification of its source, as only the king himself or his personally appointed bearer would ever be allowed to take it off his finger. Which is how you knew a sign-sealed document came "from the hand" of its author. |
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Dfens
Posts: 462 |
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I remember at my old job many years back I had a customer who was American but he lived in Japan for a bit so he had his own customized Hanko of his last name converted to Kanji.
Always got a kick out of it every time he came in and used it instead of signing like everyone else. It always pissed off my manager but I told her how they are legal to use in Japan and he is the only guy that uses one so we would always remember him. Personally I would love to have one just for fun myself. As a visiting foreinger you don't need one if you are say signing a credit card receipt etc. Only if you are going to be living in Japan for a extended period of time, say longer than the 90 day travel Visa then it would be probably wise to get one. Another thing not mentioned was not only are they convienient in time saving by jusy pressing down to stamp them, it also gets rid of complicated Kanji stokes when signing that you might forget and get wrong when siging. Last edited by Dfens on Sun Aug 27, 2017 3:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Kyjin
 Posts: 126 Location: Los Angeles |
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Yes, a signature is fine here for most things. I've lived in Japan on and off over the years, and I have a hanko with my last name written in katakana, but I've only had to use it for opening my bank account and some other forms with the bank. For day to day things, signature is all you need. For deliveries, they're totally fine with a scribbled signature. I also have a hanko with my first name written out in kanji that a friend gifted me, but I just have that for one for fun. I find it a little embarrassing to use in public. |
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DerekL1963
 Subscriber Posts: 1130 Location: Puget Sound |
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It is legal (if you're physically unable to sign your name), but it has to be done in a specific manner and witnessed and countersigned by at least two witnesses. Even then it's subject to additional legal scrutiny and challenge under the theory that someone that can only scrawl an 'X' is more amenable to coercion or (if they're normally a healthy individual) possibly under the influence. (My wife is a notary and had to learn this in case she ever encountered such a case. I ran into it to when I dealt with the elderly and estates when I was a bookseller.) As they say, don't try this at home kids. |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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Or, in the most common cases, if they're functionally illiterate, which brings up the issue of whether they correctly understood what they were signing. |
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sputn1k
Posts: 52 |
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On most documents you can also sign by hand. However it may come with space constraints. E.g. postal reception confirmation forms only have a small, round area that is normally stamped. The deliveryman will usually accept initials to be put there, or even ask you to just put initials. If you are there for a longer period of time, it's very convenient to have the stamp though. You can also register an alias name in kanji when applying for your residence card (or update it later), as long as they check out and don't mean anything bad. It's perfectly legal to sign with a registered alias, too. This system is actually how celebrities are able to have 2 names, their public one as a celeb, and their real one they don't use publicly. Also works for people who married and are legally required to change their real family name due to marriage, but want to continue to be known under their original name. They simply register their old name as an alias, which puts it on their IDs as well. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Ah, the great Heirloom Seal of the Realm. Should it be rediscovered it would be the greatest archaeological discovery in Chinese history. As a Trekker I often joked about the latter four characters of the Seal are the evidence of Vulcan visiting Earth more than two millennia ago. 
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11666 |
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So did Japan and other Eastern countries never go through the carbon copy era, or did each page have to be individually stamped?
Only in the last couple of years did my workplace finally dispense with pressure-sensitive, carbonless NCR forms for ordering supplies and shipping memos, and Fed-Ex still uses those for shipping docs you fill out by hand. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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I keep reading about Signet rings here, but my mind's fondness for waterfowl causes me to involuntarily substitute the word 'signet' for 'cygnet'. The ensuing mental image is nothing if not amusing.
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5535 |
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Puniyo
 Posts: 271 |
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I was wondering about that too. I mean sure, it's definitely much more secure than signatures (I can't draw mine the same twice, and no one even checks anyway. It's just a formality at this point)... assuming it's not stolen. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Speaking of which, are making these hanko stamps a labor-intensive process? Looking at that thumbnail image of the Kyubey stamp, it looks like it's done by machine, but apparently a lot of them are still carved by hand...? (I have, on occasion, made linoleum stamps by hand, and those small tiny areas with lots of detail is quite difficult.)
Which I'm guessing is the need for there to be at least two witnesses (well, one reason for it anyway): Hopefully at least one of the other witnesses is literate and can explain it to the person signing the document. |
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