Tag - hanko

 
 

HANKO

Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2021
Hanko culture set to survive Taro Kono's purge of cheaper stamps
Hanko have been used in Japan for over a millennium, but the practice came under scrutiny this year as workers were forced to visit offices to use the seals amid a state of emergency.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2020
Signed, sealed, discarded: Japan to all but scrap hallowed hanko
The radical switch comes as newly installed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga seeks to boost use of digital technology to streamline processes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Oct 12, 2020
Tokyo conference debates new normals as coronavirus drives change
Experts at the annual G1 Global Conference discussed the upending of traditional practices, digitalization, working styles and widening inequality.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2020
Taro Kono looks to pinpoint what is demotivating young Japanese bureaucrats
According to a survey of 45,000 government officials, 14.7 percent of males under the age of 30 were planning to call it quits within the next three years.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2020
As the new administrative reform minister, Taro Kono declares war on fax machines
Kono said his ongoing crusade against hanko will go a long way toward phasing out the nation's entrenched fixation on fax.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2020
Twenty years after digital push, Japanese government still stuck under piles of paper
Two decades after Japan rolled out an ambitious plan to go digital, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed the government's deeply rooted technological shortcomings as ministries remain stuck in a paper-driven culture that experts say is hurting productivity.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2020
Growing need for digital signatures gives Japanese firm a massive boost
The coronavirus pandemic is yanking corporate Japan into the 21st century and raising the shares of Bengo4.com Inc.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 22, 2020
Rethinking the need for personal stamps and seals in modern society
Last month, MUFG Bank Ltd. started offering ¥1,000 to each of its first 100,000 customers willing to give up their paper passbooks. MUFG wants people to switch to online banking, which is cheaper for banks — and not just because they can save on production costs. Banks pay billions of yen a year in...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 22, 2019
As Japan's banks snub personal stamps, hanko makers pin hopes on growing foreign population
With Japan's foreign population expected to grow in light of the new visa statuses introduced this month, makers of hanko (personal seals) see a new opportunity for business.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2019
Records bearing Emperor's seal and signature and Japan Cabinet meeting documents to be kept on paper
The government considers it essential to save such public records in paper form in order to preserve their historical value, officials said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 9, 2019
Personal seals lose ground as big Japanese banks stop using 1800s technology
It has taken more than a century, but Japanese banks are finally parting ways with a piece of technology that hasn't felt cutting edge since the shogun reigned.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jan 27, 2019
The last 2018 concept winners
Now 2019 is in full swing, On: Design takes a final look at a few of 2018's end of year noteworthy prizewinners.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 27, 2013
At home on the Maasai Mara range
Asuka Takita has a passion for Africa and its wildlife that took root during her childhood in Singapore and flourished in the soils of Kenya during her third year of university.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 21, 2007
'Hanko' fate sealed by test of time
A "hanko" personal seal is a necessary item for most adults in Japan, serving the same role as a signature in the West.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’