Advice about using hanko stamps online in Japan

people walking on the streets surrounded by buildings

This week I had to use my Hanko stamp, a stamp used in place of a signature in Japan, for two things; one an invoice, and one a receipt.

I had been told that you don’t need to print these out, that you can just put a .png image of your stamp in red where you would normally stamp it on actual paper. At least in practice.

Turns out you can and you can’t. For the receipt, it worked fine and I didn’t need to do anything else. For the invoice, I was told it had to be done on real paper and then scanned and emailed in. Long story short, they ended up sending me a physical letter to stamp and then send back in the mail. Much more trouble than it’s worth (well, it’s not a small amount).

I can be slightly to blame for this though. For the invoice I think I accidentally sent back an excel file rather than a .pdf, if I had sent in a .pdf they probably would not have noticed, and I would have been ok.

Japan has some ridiculous rules that can really do your head in (don’t get me started on their primitive banking practices). But if you keep in mind a few tricks, there are ways around some parts. You just have to be a bit cognizant of things.

ENJOYED THIS? HAVE MORE.

MOUNTAINS OF WISDOM

Subscribe to my yamabushi newsletter

RECENT BLOG POSTS

Metaphors can help change the world
Passivity

YAMABUSHI BLOG POSTS

a statue of a man near the clouds
It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be.
Different country, different language, different definition of mountain: A year on the Mountains of Yamagata (round-up)
person running near street between tall trees
Soul-First Life

RANDOM POSTS

Mt. Chokai
Hiking Guide: Mountains of The Shonai Region
accomplishment action adult adventure
On The Way to Greatness
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

Get In Touch

Sakata City, Yamagata, Japan 

tim@timbunting.com

Share this:

Like this:

Like Loading...
Scroll to Top