It makes no sense! the Hanko system

Hanko(han), or Inkan(In) are Japanese seals which we use instead of signatures on business and private documents. For most public documents, you can only use a Hanko. We need a hanko for residence certificates, parking registration, getting a passport, banking, real estate deals, car deals, etc,. Yes. Unfortunately you cannot live in Japan without Hanko actually.

Hanko typically have this shape which is a round or square stick. For personal use, only one's last name is carved there. The price depends on its material. The most expensive one would be elephant tusk,  (What? elephant Ivory trading is under the ban by the Washington Convention. But Japan is allowed because we have sufficient management system. Maybe the needs and custom of Hanko facilitated this strict management system.) and cheap ones are made of plastic. Usually people use two types of hanko. One is a special one that is only used for banking, and public issues. Another one is a regular one that is used for daily isseus like a receipt stamp for package deliveries, and absence notifications at one's job. You can order your hanko or you can buy a ready-made at a shop. Actually if you do not have very very unique last name. You may find your name's hanko at this type of hanko stand. Recently 100yen shop sell hanko too.

You will suppose easily, we use hanko in such important case; finance or identification, but you can buy or order everywhere. What will happen when you lose it?  When someone copies or buys one with the same name as yours? Is the security of thehanko system work?

Ha! the hanko system doesn't make sense at all. Here is today's article. Two peoples withdrew money from a bank with identical seals. Guess what?  They both lost $4000 or so. In the court sentence for this case, the guy will be reimbursed in full, because the seal of the copy hanko was different. The edge was thicker. As a proffessional, the bank should have found the difference when they saw the paper. The women will not get any money, because in her case the copy seal looked very close and it was hard to tell the difference...

I hope we will change this soon, but I am pessimistic. I must admit that the hanko is deeply connected to our lives. Look at this!  We have hanko fortunes, too.  They read good fortune and bad fortune on our seals. And recently hanko have various materials. There are many colorful and pretty hankos, and we also started to break an old custom a little bit. Some people add their symbol. (I am not sure if this would work for public document. maybe not.)  It looks like a joke stamp, but at least it's unique. The Hanko system does not work, but they still don't seem to disappear...

Anyway there is another problem too. I wonder why Japan is lenient on banks. If I pile up money in the bank, keeping the money secure is the bank's responsibility. If someone withdraws/steals it from the bank,  the bank should t compensate the loss any rate.  But in this country, it is different.  Custmers have to accept los the loss meekly.  Can you believe it?

Comments

[Tobias Schelle]

It's pretty obvious that very few people know about Japanese Hanko system. Actually stipp most of people are as ignorant about Japanese culture as Chinese culture, though Japan hasn't the great wall.

Thanks for the post. I didn't about it at all before reading this post.

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[Edith Michelson]

Regarding a different kind of stamp -- not hanko -- Can someone tell me about government stamps that appear on receipts? For example, if one pays for a taxi fare and receives a receipt from the driver -- I understand there is a threshhold amount of payment that requires a stamp on a receipt. What is that amount?

[Mohammed Kamran Khan]

Dear Hanko club, I am in pocession of two unique hanko/inkan. One is a ivory tusk with beautiful oriental fine carving, with wooden stand. The other one is in brass with jems, a small hand griped with tumb space. Please advice if anybody can help me understand their backgroup/history and the details of the seals.
Thans.
kamikhanzda@hotmail.com

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[Mari]

Hi there
I was not sure this topic was interseting for foreign people, I thought maybe bored one? But boing boing picked this my post up, it was interesting. Anyway some said Hanko system works with Jitsuin shomei, Inkan toroku etc,. But they seem to make things complicated worse and worse for me. Actually I could not close my bank account because I brought wrong hanko! I forgot which one I used for and I had found I lost it. Then? I made a paper to change my hanko for the bank and I closed the bank account. baka baka shi!

[GaijinBiker]

Shachihata and Wacom have invented a new digital hanko system for "stamping" computer files with the user's mark. It also transmits an ID and password for verification purposes.

[Kent]

I lived in Tokyo for 4 years and didn't need a hanko. On the rare visits to the bank when I didn't use an ATM, my bank card and signature were just fine. Maybe because I was gaijin I could get away with it where a Japanese person would have to follow the rules.

[Jamie Talbot]

I'm living in Japan and also found hanko to be strange. My hanko is simply "Ji-mu" in Katakana as it was provided by my company. The bank accepted this with no problems, but when my bike was stolen and returned by the police, I had to use thumbprints on the forms because I was told my hanko wasn't secure enough! The same hanko that I could use to empty my bank account in 2 minutes! Thinking on it, this is probably just because the banks aren't worried about fraud, cos it will be my fault. That's a scary thought :(

Read this blog for the first time, coming from Boing Boing - always nice to see a new perspective on Japan!

Mata ne!

[Gejigeji]

@Arnaud: foreign names are usually written in Katakana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana)

[Ira]

while hankos might be an everyday occurance and less than foolproof, being in America I have never seen one. Given how unique a hanko would be on official documents, I am going to use one instead of my signature ;)

[Aaron Batty]

I have two hankos. I have a katakana one of my last name which I use for official documents. It is hand-carved. I think the system is insane, but at least I figure forensics could track that one. The other one I use for more personal things, like signing in to work (another "it makes no sense" thing--I typically sign in for the whole month at a time rather than walk to the central building every day when I could be working). That hanko is my first name in kanji. It's a much nicer-looking one, but I can't use it for official documents because it is rubber.

I hope to god I never have to get a jitsuin, though. They are incredibly expensive and I am responsible for anything stamped with it.

As crazy as this all sounds, remember that Japan is all about... what shall I say? ... symbolic responsibility. You physically cannot be responsible if someone breaks into your house or whatever and steals a stupid stamp, but if it went to court, they'd likely say "why was it in your house? You should have kept it in a bank, guarded by ninjas!" when you know damned well everyone in the room just has it in their house. Similarly, you cannot actually be responsible for your car if someone else is driving it, but if you lend it to a friend and he gets caught speeding or gets in an accident, you're in trouble too. Why? You're responsible for your car. You have this sort of symbolic responsibility for things that you have no control over. It's the same reason PMs always step down when something goes wrong in the country. It's to accept symbolic responsibility for something that wasn't their fault. Someone's life gets ruined, so everything's right with the universe, right?

Ooops... Ranting. It's been a bad Japan week. Comes and goes. Mostly goes. This week it came at least once a day. Still, I'm far happier living here that in the US, all in all.

But hankos are nuts.

[Naruwan]

There must be a million to one chance of having two HAND-CARVED chops look exactly the same.
We use chops here in Taiwan as a signature. It's almost impossible to make an exact replica of a chop. Plus you need to show your ID card as well as using the chop.

[Jermey]

Also look here for an example of how western signatures are not foolproof. A guy signed different names (on his own credit card reciepts) and nobody cared.

There is a massive conceptual difference between what this blog post is describing and using different signatures on a ccard receipt.

If you claim that you did not make a ccard transaction, even if the signiture is a flawless copy, you are only liable for the first £50, if your pin is used to withdraw £4000 from the ATM you are still only liable for the first £50.

If somebody steels your hanko and walks into the bank and empties your account, you just lost all your money.

The reason the hanko is a problem is not because they can be copied easily, its because the banks do not shoulder any responsibility for their customers financial loss.

If the banks were held liable for fraud in the same manner as credit card companies, the use of hanko for financial transactions would die out overnight.

[t3knomanser]

Of course a hanko is less secure than a metal key. To copy a metal key still requires some level of technical equipment. Anyone with a decent carving knife could make a hanko. Also, since hanko are simply your last name, the odds of different people having the same hanko are fairly high- it's like a lock manufacturer selling a thousand locks, and each lock can be opened with one of ten keys. That means that a hundred other people can open your lock.

[Logical Dash]

Is using a hanko for a signature any less secure than using a metal key for a house door?
Also, how does one manufacture hanko such that they are always unique? It seems like any hanko worth its weight in salt would be hand-made.

[Luke]

Also look here for an example of how western signatures are not foolproof. A guy signed different names (on his own credit card reciepts) and nobody cared.

http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/

[luke]

Remember that handwritten signatures can be forged as well, but perhaps with more difficulty.

They also use seals (yin) in China, but it's not as compulsory as it is in Japan. As an American living and working in Beijing, I only ever used my seal on letters to friends, as banks would always accept my signature. I live in Japan now and can't do anything without my hanko.

[huang]

I thought it was an archaic system when I read about Koreans using personal seals (do-jang)instead of signatures or thumbprints.

I mean anyone could steal the seal and withdraw all your money from the bank, right ? Unless there is another counter-check.

I didn't the use of seals was still so prevalent in Japan.

By the way, the use of thumbprints is not fool-proof. Heard of horror stories where the thumb is chopped off. Actually heard of thumb of dead person preserved and used each year on forms applying for pension funds !

[Mari]

Hi There
Arnaud, foreign people make their katakana name hanko, or change their name into kanji character. For example smith is　墨洲.

[robert]

I have one that a friend brought back from Japan. It is made out of wood and from what I understand they went to great lengths to find a way to get the phonetics and the meaning to fit. Basically it came out as "someone close to a fire"..or something like that. I'm afraid my Nihongo is not that good. An example of how it looks can be found here in the lower right corner (though I'm afraid my photo is a bit blurry) m(_ _)m gomen.

[Noswonky]

I always thought Hanko was strange. I thought there must be something more to it that I didn't understand. Your article confirms that I was right - it sucks!

[Arnaud]

I am wondering how hanko looks like when the name typed on it is a non-Japanese? Does anybody have a clue or example?

mata ne!