Considerations for non-Japanese users of seals
- Filed under: Japan, Reference
- Date: Apr 20, 2008 21:56 JST
- Tags: Accommodation, Banking, Contracts, Hanko, Inkan, Japanese customs, Seals
The situation surrounding seal use in Japan is complicated enough for natives, but for foreigners getting an inkan you can register is more involved still, chiefly due to the inconvenient way non-Japanese names seem to take up so much room. I explained the system in general in a previous article, now here I shall describe it with respect to foreign users.
Firstly, for mitomein (the unregistered kind), you need not worry. You can have whatever you please carved into one (as long as the carver can manage it), alphabet, kana, ateji, whatever. The worst that will happen is that someone will look askance at you, or possibly in formal situations ask you to at least have your own name written on it (in case you plumped for a 105¥ Tanaka hanko at the 100¥ store).
The reason this is important is because however you render your name, you may not be able to fit it onto the actual surface of the seal (you very likely will not be able to manage to fit all or part of one of your names on the smaller sizes of hanko, let alone both, unless you can use kanji); this will mean you will need a larger and more expensive seal, and there is an upper limit to how large such an item can get. Since you can abbreviate or render it in kana, as well as freely select between first or last name, or indeed both, you can get round this, albeit with possibly unsightly results.
For the jitsuin, matters are rather more complicated. Since the jitsuin is only valid in so far as it is registered in an official capacity, you are completely at the mercy of the yakusho (役所: the local government office – often only the main office will deal with non-Japanese residents) with respect to what is permissible. It is imperative you check with the local office what goes; in general they will want something identical to whatever you registered as with for Alien Registration Card – mine went so far as to specify that it be all caps. Katakana, or whatever else, will not be accepted unless you are registered with such a name (they seem to go on what is written on your passport, and if this is katakana you probably already have Japanese citizenship – congratulations!).
In summary, you will likely be registering as JOHN SMITH; longer names are going to require consultation with the office concerned, although a hankoya will probably be OK with a long name on a larger seal – the problem is again that the office will have an acceptable upper limit on the size of the seal.
For company seals, since they tend to much bigger it is generally possible to get inconveniently long company names fitted in, and indeed many Japanese companies with longer names are now extant, since alphabet became legal for inclusion into company names with the new company laws of 2006. If you are buying seals for incorporation, you would at any rate be wise to check everything beforehand with the hankoya and the notary.
If you are concerned how things will look, or fit, several of the big internet hankoya (they are inexpensive too) have previews and FAQs relevant to non-Japanese customers, so they probably have the most experience in such matters; personally I have used E-Hankoya.com without issue. Physically going to a bricks and mortar hankoya may also have merit, since you can confirm everything in person, although you may find this comparatively expensive.
