Hanko - Japanese Name Seals
When I lived in Japan I was given one of these made for my western name. Foreign names can be written in katakana (the Japanese alphabet reserved for foreign words) by sounding them out, but hanko stamps are more elegant and significant if the sound of the name can be translated into a kanji character. “Nancy” became “nan” and “shi”, and my friends chose the “shi” character for poem rather than the other less-auspicious kanji that are also pronounced “shi”. Many western artists use a name stamp (aka chock or name seal) to sign their work, just as their Chinese and Japanese counterparts have done for centuries.
This video above shows how these name stamps are made and used, including some recent innovations. But their use is waning given technological progress and the pace of change in Japan. See the article below.
This article from Bloomberg talks about how Japanese banks and the government are changing their requirements for name seals to accommodate advances in technology.
