Need a hanko when purchasing a house?

[Teflon]

Many thanks for the feedback. Something to do next week then. I presume the hanko should replicate the name I have on my gaijin card, middle name and all?

Yeah that's what I did and the registration went very smoothly. The hanko itself is large and cost 15,000 yen at Daimaru which surprised me but my Japanese friends said to get the fancy one so I did. The end result: three rows of Romaji in the form:

LAST NAME <-- larger font
FIRST NAME <-- normal size font
MIDDLE NAME <-- smaller font

As others have mentioned it's very boring but it matched my gaijin card exactly and therefore seemed to be the safest bet. Make sure to get the "Jitsu-in" type of hanko as outlined here:

https://www.realestate-tokyo.com/living ... nko-inkan/

[captainspoke]

Perhaps since it was registered ages ago, mine is a single katakana: デ (first kana of my last name)

Never had any objections to it. I still have the registration certificate.

[mule96]

Same here. At the place where I live, the requirements are that the hanko needs to reflect any part of your official registered name (or an alias - which I dont have). I also went with my first name.

[Bushiman]

One more thing about registering the Hanko with the possible exception of Chinese people you can't have your name in Kanji. In Latin letters or Katakana only.

My hanko is an abbreviation of my first name, in Katakana. I had the same trouble at the City Hall but thanks to an expired gym membership card that had my photo and my abbreviated name (hand)written in katakana, all was good and I now have that abbreviated version on all official documents & contracts.

[ExpatScot]

Yeah that's what I did and the registration went very smoothly. The hanko itself is large and cost 15,000 yen at Daimaru which surprised me but my Japanese friends said to get the fancy one so I did. The end result: three rows of Romaji in the form:

LAST NAME <-- larger font
FIRST NAME <-- normal size font
MIDDLE NAME <-- smaller font

As others have mentioned it's very boring but it matched my gaijin card exactly and therefore seemed to be the safest bet. Make sure to get the "Jitsu-in" type of hanko as outlined here:

https://www.realestate-tokyo.com/living ... nko-inkan/

Thanks, that’s the format I’ll go with too I think.

[Tony]

What is acceptable on a registered hanko is not standard across Japan, so it'd be best to check with your city hall/ward office before making the actual stamp.