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Japanese Name Stamps - Hanko/Inkan/Shachihata

nice gaijin

Resident Realist
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Hi All! I need some help! Cashing in some internet karma points :)
I don't talk much about my work here, but as some of you know, my background is in design and I pick up random projects here and there. My favorite projects are ones that bridge cultural barriers, and I've recently been tapped by a company that makes Hanko (Japanese Name Stamps) to create an English website for foreigners interested in getting their own name stamp.
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In order to better understand the needs of our customers, we worked together to make a survey targeted for English speakers. It doesn't matter if you have bought hanko before; we have designed the survey to ask questions for both people who have and haven't used hanko.

SO, my dear fellow forum members, please take a minute to fill out the survey, and share it with others if you can. It's less than 20 questions, so it really shouldn't take much time at all. If you're living in or going to Japan, or are interested in getting your own name stamp, this service is meant to benefit you, so please take a moment to fill out the survey so we can better address your needs!

Here's the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/hanko


I intend to post subsequent updates to this thread to keep you all updated on the progress of this project, and share the results of our research. Please let me know if there are any questions we neglected to ask, or if there are any other issues with the survey I should address. Thank you so much for your help and input!
 
Not sure if it possible , but a space for comments at the end of the survey would be nice. I could picture a series with Manga pics on the outside or well know Japanese cartoons or Japanese bands known outside of Japan appealing to young non-Japanese fans. My two nephews are crazy about Japanese things and hankos would make a great gift for them.
 
14 should include an option for "don't even remember where I got it"

17 should be "had known"
 
Thanks for the feedback, guys! I've modified the questions per your suggestions, and added an other comments at the end of the survey :)
 
This is a good business idea. You should make an easy-to-use website where the customer can fully specify the hanko, and be shown what it will look like, and then click order. It should also be mail deliverable to overseas and in japan. Most foreigners just arriving in Japan can't speak enough Japanese for it to be easy to get a hanko, so they'll likely happily pay a premium for an English-language website which does it all for them and delivers in the mail. Then you can just submit the orders to an external fabricator. If you're good at programming (or can find someone who is), it might be possible for it to be completely automatic (e.g. piping orders to a Japanese manufacturer's online ordering).
 
Thank you for your input, @HanSolo. My client is actually a hanko manufacturer, looking to extend their services more conveniently to foreign clientele both in and outside of Japan, so we're very interested to hear what our customer base thinks. The first phase of the site is meant to just provide information about hanko and give a few buying options, where the customer just inputs the text they want on the stamp, and leave the rest to the maker.

I had the same thought about having some kind of WSIWYG interface where people can design and proof their own hanko in real-time, but this is beyond my own developing skills, and may not always be plausible depending on how the hanko themselves are made. As I learn more about the manufacturing process, I'll explore the feasibility of this kind of online service
 
So far we have collected 42 responses, which is great, but we'd like to get a few more responses before we analyze the results. So far I've looked the answers over and there's some really interesting insight from the people who have bought hanko before.

I'm trying to elicit responses from people outside of my own circle of friends (to eliminate confirmation bias). Are there any other places I should be publishing this link? I feel bad for going on gaijinpot or something and posting a link as my first post, so any suggestions to best go about publicizing the link is much appreciated!
 
wow that would be amazing! Thanks Thomas! :) And thank you for taking the time
 
I have not done the survey, but would be great if you guys can send instructions to register the hanko at town hall. I still see tons of fellow co workers using their hanko thinking it is the Japanese way until one of tem got burnt because it was not registered as an official hanko at town hall.
 
Thank you @ericson, that is a great idea! I am actually about to go meet with them right now and I will pass this idea along, to have some kind of practical advice page for making sure your hanko will work as an official seal. Cheers!
 
I have not done the survey, but would be great if you guys can send instructions to register the hanko at town hall. I still see tons of fellow co workers using their hanko thinking it is the Japanese way until one of tem got burnt because it was not registered as an official hanko at town hall.

It is entirely dependent as to what purpose the hanko is being used for whether it needs to be registered or not.
 
Hi all! I had the meeting the other day and it went quite well; all of the input everyone has provided has been very helpful. It's quite interesting; the culture of hanko is so ingrained in the Japanese psyche, that it is taken for granted that the Japanese customers know about hanko, but a foreign customer needs a lot more hand-holding in understanding the custom and what their needs may be.

In this case, the perspective of a non-Japanese customer generates a lot of ideas and questions to answer. And of course, I'm learning a lot about the various kinds of hanko (mitome-in, jitsu-in, teisei-in, kaku-in, ginko-in, daihyou-in etc) and their different uses. There will be much more to come. In the meantime, if anyone has any further ideas for what they'd like to see on a site offering hanko and related products, please post them here!
 
Hey Nice Gaijin,

Has there been any progress to setup a site for this? I'm very interested in checking it out. Getting a hanko is something that I was planning on doing when we eventually move to Japan.

Thanks!
 
Hey Nice Gaijin,

Has there been any progress to setup a site for this? I'm very interested in checking it out. Getting a hanko is something that I was planning on doing when we eventually move to Japan.

Thanks!
Thanks for following up, @Petaris! I've been consolidating content for the site, both text and images (as the native speaker and OCD designer, I've taken the reigns in both written content and photography). But we are closing in on a soft release which I invite any and all JREF members to come check out the site when it's ready, so I can gather a round of feedback for final edits to the content and site functionality before the site goes "live."

Stay tuned, I'll have an update in a week or so
 
Thanks for following up, @Petaris! I've been consolidating content for the site, both text and images (as the native speaker and OCD designer, I've taken the reigns in both written content and photography). But we are closing in on a soft release which I invite any and all JREF members to come check out the site when it's ready, so I can gather a round of feedback for final edits to the content and site functionality before the site goes "live."

Stay tuned, I'll have an update in a week or so

Hey nice gaijin,

Its been a bit more than a week, any news?

Thanks!
 
Haha yes it has been! The site is almost complete, I've been slowly polishing it; I'm still waiting for the client to send me final pricing information for their products and free up the domain so I can move it off my development server. They are meeting this coming Saturday to finalize this information. Hopefully that means I'll be ready to migrate to production within the week.

I'm really eager to share it with you all, also because it'll probably lead to valuable feedback that will go towards improving the customer experience. If you're interested in poking around the development site please send me a PM.
 
Sorry for the long silence, but this project is still very much alive! We've been honing the site design and content, going through several iterations to make it functional and usable. I'm waiting for my consultant to meet with the client one last time before we officially launch to discuss our announcement strategy.

The site is now up and running, and you can check it out at:
Hanko Square – Your Hanko is You


Hanko are complex and nuanced, so it took some time to piece together the important information and present it without being too confusing, and we had to limit our initial product offerings to avoid overwhelming our customers. I'm very eager to get any feedback you might have, if you spot an error or something is unclear, or if you think there's a better way we can organize or present the information, please let me know. Special thanks to @Petaris for the feedback he already provided!

We're also putting supplemental information and stories into our blog, so if you have an idea for an article, or if you want to share your hanko-related story we would love to hear it!

We'll be doing a full announcement very soon, which will include a 15% coupon for our first 100 customers. Again, thank you all for your help and support!
 
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Shouldn't "wood hanko" be "wooden hanko"?
hmm! I just looked this up, and it seems that "wood" and "wooden" are mostly interchangeable as adjectives (though it does somewhat depend on which dictionary you reference), with the "-en" variation having the added poetic ability to imbue the object described with the adjective word's properties even if it isn't literally made of that material (see "Mitt Romney").

other examples of this pairing would be
wool sweater vs. woolen sweater
silk stockings vs. silken stockings
gold watch vs. golden watch

Personally, I tend to use the former, though I'm probably more likely to use "golden watch," than "silken stockings." I'm not against changing it if the consensus is that it would serve to improve understanding, thanks for looking out Mike! :)
 
OK everyone! I'm sorry it's taken so long for the official announcement. We've had the site running for a little bit and have been processing orders from a surprisingly diverse group of customers from all over the world. It has been exciting to fulfill orders for customers with such a variety of needs, some of which we didn't even anticipate like potters looking to stamp their work with hanko!

We're offering a limited coupon code for 15% off almost our entire catalog of products for our first 100 customers. If you or anyone you know is in need of a hanko or hanko-related products, feel free to share this code with them!

If you are a student, send me a PM and I can hook you up even more :)

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