{"id":1233,"date":"2023-10-11T13:26:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T04:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/?p=1233"},"modified":"2023-10-11T13:26:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T04:26:07","slug":"japanese-seal-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/japanese-seal-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Seal Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1234\" width=\"314\" height=\"247\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image.png 400w, https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-300x236.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 314px) 100vw, 314px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>An <em>inkan<\/em> [\u5370\u9451], referred to as a \u2018seal\u2019 in English, is a small cylindrical object that is about 1-2 centimeters in diameter, 5-6 centimeters in length, and has a person\u2019s name carved in stylized letters into the surface of one end. You use an <em>inkan<\/em> by pressing the end with the name written on it onto a red ink pad, and then press it onto paper. In Europe and North America, a person\u2019s signature is regarded as sufficient proof of one\u2019s identity, consent, etc., but in Japan, seals are used in place of personal signatures in various situations. Ones\u2019s registered legal seal, <em>jitsuin<\/em>, [\u5b9f\u5370] is used how a signature would be on official or public documents, with it confirming a person\u2019s intentions and identity, and is registered at City Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before registering your seal at City Hall, you of course must first have one made. You will need to decide how you would like to have your name carved into the seal. This includes the character type, so you must select either \u2018<em>romaji\u2019<\/em> Roman characters, \u2018<em>katakana\u2019<\/em> characters used for foreign words, or \u2018<em>kanji<\/em>\u2019 Chinese characters. Be sure to choose characters that express the name you ordinarily use on a daily basis. When you want to register your seal, it is best to take along piece of mail that shows your name, a pay slip, a certificate of employment, or similar documentation as proof that this is the name you use, in addition to your actual seal to ensure registration goes smoothly. Once you have registered your seal, you will be able to receive a certificate of seal registration \u2018<em>Inkan T\u014droku Sh\u014dmeisho<\/em>,\u2019 [\u5370\u9451\u767b\u9332\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8]. You can request this document when necessary, such as when purchasing a car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to a <em>jitsuin<\/em>, there are <em>inkan<\/em> for informal use called personal seals or signets \u2018<em>mitomein<\/em>,\u2019 [\u8a8d\u5370] that are used in situation like receiving mail. Because of its importance, <em>inkan<\/em> have a symbolic meaning, and there are many people who pay close attention to its size and who have it made out of high-quality material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Inkan<\/em> are not only important for daily life, but are also cool to have. How about making a memento of your time here in Japan?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An inkan [\u5370\u9451], referred to as a \u2018seal\u2019 in English, is a small cylindrical object that is about 1-2 centimeters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","ub_ctt_via":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[19],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image.png","author_info":{"display_name":"\u56fd\u969b\u4ea4\u6d41\u30bb\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc","author_link":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/author\/ced620d04eb3ca9531749e6e9ca8472c37f89de0\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1235,"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions\/1235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oiea.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}