Seal of approval

When settling in Japan, you will find that there are certain things you will truly need you didn't expect. One such thing is a personal seal, roughly the size of a AA battery, officially called an inkan or more commonly referred to as a hanko ("stamp").

The inkan serves the same purpose as a signature does in the West; it is used to mark your agreement, and so all Japanese have their own inkan. Many banks require you to have a inkan, and it is used for signing contracts and official documents. Before buying real estate, a car or a house one must have their inkan registered at the town hall. A registered inkan is known as a jitsuin. For foreigners the jitsuin must contain their surname, which may be written in katakana or the Roman alphabet (romaji).

Inkans for common Japanese names can be bought for as little as 105 yen, but foreigners will have to get one custom made and that will cost around 4000 yen. Thankfully, shops where you can get them made are plentiful, and there also plenty of suppliers online. These inkans are clearly a big business here, and customers can choose from an enormous range of sizes, materials, fonts and carrying cases. Check out the extensive website of hankoya.com, with its sub-domains for women's and titanium inkans.

A few weeks ago I was bought my inkan as a birthday gift. I decided to have my last name put on it in katakana. My last name is quite long, so the resulting inkan has some of the narrowest katakana I've ever seen crammed into the 13.5mm diameter. I've not actually used it yet, but I'll be opening a bank account in the near future and of course there's the job contract I look forward to signing - I mean, stamping soon.