'Hanko' specialist gives coronavirus his stamp of disapproval

Hell even the dinosaurs went extinct. The hanko, inkan, or seal, is an archaiac manner of doing business and should die out anyway, in today's electronic/digital world.

His business was bound to become a "niche" one anyway, and corona just pushed it along.

If they still want to use seals, use the digital one's, they are rather easy to make with an excel macro!

I totally respect the culture and tradition here. But sometimes it is so ridiculous that in some cases you even need to go to the city hall to get a certificate to prove that your Hanko is the real one. It is so mendokusai and what's the point of having a Hanko then in this case? If it is for fun we can still keep the tradition but in times like this, let's move on.

Get with the times mate!

Digital hanko’s can be forged.

A hanko is your signature, I for one will be sorry to see it go. There should be a choice, hanko or signature, both ok

Your "hanko" is NOT your signature. There is a rather large difference to the culture here. There are cases, where in place of the "hanko" your fingerprint or thumbprint, in the red ink, is used in place of the hanko, often times a signature is used together with the print as well.

I totally respect the culture and tradition here. But sometimes it is so ridiculous that in some cases you even need to go to the city hall to get a certificate to prove that your Hanko is the real one. It is so mendokusai and what's the point of having a Hanko then in this case? If it is for fun we can still keep the tradition but in times like this, let's move on.

This is to protect against forgery, as it is very possible to purchase inkan's at a hundred yen shop and it can be used in any number of situations.

One example, I was scrapping a car, and in the process of doing the paperwork for deregistering the car, the tax office needed me to "inkan" a document. I had forgotten it, but they showed me to a back office, a guy opened up his desk drawer, and he had literally hundreds of different inkan's, all with different family names on them, he picked the one I needed, and stamped the document.

認印　(mitomein) is used for such purposes, and others that are used "daily".

実印　(jitsuin) is the official registered one that is needed for "official" documents, like government, court, or bank transactions. It is also typically a much larger inkan, and costs a hell of a lot more to make than the ones used daily.

Wat a waste of wood and paper...

Many and many of my official documents are now online. I only keep one piece of paper of each to get traceability if ever it would get hacked. So instead of hundreds, I get a few dozens at most.

My salary slip soon to get dematerialized.

No worry.

Since your money is virtual, there is no point in trying to pursue a financial paper life.

実印　(jitsuin) is the official registered one that is needed for "official" documents, like government, court, or bank transactions. It is also typically a much larger inkan, and costs a hell of a lot more to make than the ones used daily.

Come again? When I bought my house it cost me 600 yen to get one of these made, and took fifteen minutes.

Hanko is a useless relic of the past

He can go voice his complaints alongside his good friend the candle-stick maker over a cup of honey-mead. I couldn't care less that the hanko business is under scrutiny due to Corona -- that is one the few plusses it has brought with it.

As a tourist in Japan I would want one as a souvenir and would probably go for a craftsman made product, why not. But as a way to run a business/economy in the 21st century, perhaps not.

I still have a fountain pen and even a seal and wax I use for fun on hand delivered Christmas cards, but for business etc. No way.