What's new

What does your hanko looks like?

Kirirao

Lost in the maze of life
18 Sep 2004
273
15
33
Well I've just got back from an interview to enter my new senmon gakkou yesterday and It's been bothering me quite a while now. Since that is not the first time it happen. The first thing the interviewer ask me is "What's up with your hanko", I suck at translating to english so I think its something like that. Happens almost everytime, when I open a new bank account at mizuhos, job interview etc. They either give me a wierd look or just laugh when I took out my hanko.

If you have ever seen an old paintings (chinese or japanese i think) does have those kind of hanko, the big square one. Even wierder about my hanko is, It's written in romaji and katakana. Thus I got told alot theres not alot of people use katakana hanko. duh. Well, I didnt made those, my agent in malaysia made those for all the students who are coming to Japan. Sadly I'm the only non-chinese in the class so I'm the only one who got the weird hanko. And I cant relate to anyone since everyone in my school either have a kanji name or dont have a hanko.

So, since there's quite a few of people without kanji name living in Japan right now. What kind of hanko are you using? custom made with kanakana or the one with kanji that you bought from 99yen shop (If we can even use that? as in we have a romanji name using a kanji hanko?). Its quite problematic to me since my hanko is too big and often goes out the box for you to stamp on. I've been thinking about changing it, or something like that. Still thinking tho, since I used that hanko to open my bank account and stuff.

Thanks
 
Although there are likely more, I only know of one of my fellow students (without kanji in his name) who had a custom hanko made; he found the closest approximation for his name in kanji, and used that.
 
A friend of mine from the US who is now working in Japan also has a hanko - it's small in size and round but with his family name in katakana.
I saw it stamped on the envelope when he sent me a letter, I'm not sure if he's using it for banks etc., though.

If you google with 窶堙坂?堙ア窶堋ア as the keyword, you'll find many companies that will make you one with the design and shape and style of your choice.
Most of them are not expensive, unless you are very choosy about the material (you know, ivory, horn of high quality, for instance.)

I've got several hanko, one of them is with "nikukyuu" (paw print).
My name in kanji and a big paw mark above it, it's quite funny.
I don't know if it is valid for banks, but I'm using it as "mitome-in", which stands for signature when receiving parcels from delivery services.
http://www.hankodaisuki.jp/
 
@Rio Lee - is your hanko registered? If it's so strange, I'd be surprised that a town or city hall would register it, and if you're using it for official procedures, you should have a registered hanko.

I've had three custom-made stamps since I got here. They're not very expensive. The first one said ナスツ。窶敕シ (窶堋カ窶堙?, but I had to get a new one when my employer decided that my stamp had to have my actual first or last name on it (not a nickname), so I got a new one. Then I lost that one and had a new one made (attachment) with the same kanji as the second one.

I think most of the other foreigners i know here have katakana stamps (some have kanji), but I've never heard of a hanko with romaji.
 

Attachments

  • hanko.JPG
    hanko.JPG
    10 KB · Views: 199
Like Undrentide, I, too, have multiple hankos. Mine are done in the katakana rendition of my surname. One is is regular mitomein and I have one more registered at city hall.

I, too, have never heard of romaji on a hanko, but I suppose it's possible. That would be one reason for surprised looks.

Most people for everday use use a round hanko (sorry, I'm going to call it an "inkan" from now out.) Most square inkan that I have seen have been used not by individuals but by institutions or corporations. Another place they seem to be quie common is on paintings. That might be another reason for surprised looks.

I have known foreigners to have kanji for their inkan a lot, but not so much katakana.

As said before, they can be quite cheap to obtain on your own, and there are hanko shops everywhere.
 
muh... I guess I got confused with the normal inkan and the official hanko. What I was talking about is the normal inkan. Anyway it's good to hear that it's normal for someone without kanji name using kanji inkan. I don't think I will register it anytime soon tho, since I don't think I will use it anywhere in the future.

so thanks for the info everyone :) I'm not picky about the choosing the inkan tho, I dont mind going to the 100yen shop and pick one randomly too. Just dont want to be the weirdo with the weird inkan for the rest of my time here in Japan.

Now, the problem is changing the inkan. I'm sure theres going to be a problem with the school and bank ._. Got to ask around later.

@JimmySeal
Now you know one guy who have a romanji inkan.

@undrentide
ohh.. The paw print inkan is interesting :)

@Mikawa Ossan
Thanks for the input, didnt realize you posted while I was typing this post. Man my agent in malaysia really put me in a weird position. I should ask them for my money back.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Before I came to Japan the first time for school my friend was setting up an apartment for me with leopalace. In order to do so, she had to have and inkan for me to stamp everything with, so she had one made up and registered for me. My inkan says LIZ and that's it. It's so weird - I wish it was katakana, or kanji or something else, but for the amount of times I've used it since then it hasn't seem to be worth changing. No one has ever said anything about it, though. They seem to be more shocked that a foreigner has one (we don't have many foreigners around here).
 
You do have to remember there are rules about what can be on a hanko for certain situations. (Such as when you register at the city hall to use it for official use etc).

And mine is katakana ;)
 
I'm guessing you are all single.

My hanko is a wooden oval with キャッシュ. It is also my wife's hanko. Japanese put up with a certain degree of hanko frivolity when it comes to foreigners, but for Japanese they sort of expect your name to be on there.

I have heard of cases where schools, banks or some other institutions would balk at kanji or even katakana hanko for foreigners (from countries which don't use kanji), and insist that they have a hanko with romaji.

The easy way around that is to go to your local city hall and have the katakana rendition of your name registered as an "alias", which will then be recorded on the back of your Alien Registration Card. Whip out the card and it works like a charm.
 
Back
Top Bottom