The ink’s still drying, but the shrinking “hanko” seal industry may have found an unlikely savior amid Japan's push to go paperless: international tourists. In early May, Rachel Grey and Danielle ...

We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Japanese politics & policy news every morning. Taro Kono catalogued almost 15,000 occasions when the only way to satisfy Japan’s ...

Hanko seals made headlines like never before in recent months, as administrative reform minister Taro Kono made it his priority to do away with the traditional stamps, used to approve official ...

Before I left home to go to university, my mother presented me with a small gift. Nestled in a small, glossy scarlet case was a “hanko” personal seal that is commonly used in Japan to serve as an ...

One object that every Japanese adult owns is a hanko name stamp/personal seal. Rather than confirming mail deliveries or important documents with a signature, it’s much more common for Japanese people ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Taro Kono catalogued almost 15,000 occasions when the only way to satisfy Japan’s fastidious bureaucracy was ...