Stamping out the hanko: Japan set to launch new digitalization agency in September
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government hopes to accelerate digitalization in the central and local governments to improve the quality of services.
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.
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.
Hitachi to abolish hanko seals for internal documents and cut paper usage by 70%
The technology giant's initiative is in line with government efforts to promote digitalization in Japan.
Japan's police agency to drop mandatory hanko for 315 procedures
The National Police Agency says it receives 7.9 million applications for parking-space certification and 3.6 million for public-road use every year.
'Memorial' held for discarded hanko seals as digitalization takes root
The practicality and usefulness of the stamps has been called into question in recent months, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As of the end of September, the municipal government of Fukuoka made the use of hanko unnecessary for some 3,800 types of administrative procedure documents.
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.
The government is considering the introduction of online procedures to register marriages and divorces, Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Friday. "We're considering scrapping (the requirement for) the use of seals to register marriages and divorces," Kamikawa told a news conference. "We're carrying out studies to ...
Hanko are widely used in Japan for signing contracts, business transactions and various administrative procedures.
Yamanashi pushes back against Japan's drive to ditch personal seals
The prefectural assembly said hanko have been undeservedly pilloried for blocking efforts to promote remote working.
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.
