Buying a Hanko in Japan
To buy a hanko in Japan, match the shop channel to the tier first: order-made seals from a dedicated shop or online engraver for the registered and bank tiers, and cheap ready-made seals only for everyday use. Foreign names are engraved in katakana or roman letters, and the format must match what the accepting office allows.12
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at your local municipal office before ordering a seal meant for registration.
Overview
Three channels sell hanko: dedicated hanko shops in shopping districts, online custom engravers with home delivery, and 100-yen shops with ready-made seals for common Japanese surnames. The first two produce registrable seals; the third produces everyday seals only.12
The rest of this article prices each channel, explains the foreign-name decision, and lists what to confirm before ordering. Prices below are dated examples, since material costs move.
The three buying channels
Dedicated hanko shops
The dedicated shop in most shopping districts is the full-service option. Staff advise on material and size, proof the engraving, and produce a custom seal, sometimes the same day.13 This is the natural channel for a jitsuin or ginkoin, where uniqueness and carving quality matter for registration.
One Tokyo shop's published list illustrates the range: akane wood from 5,500 JPY, boxwood from 6,600 JPY, maple from 7,700 JPY, rosewood at 24,200 JPY, and Japanese cypress at 33,000 JPY, with ink pads sold separately (as of 2026-09; confirm current prices with the shop).4 Same-day production of 90 to 120 minutes per piece is advertised for its standard line (as of 2026-09).4
Online custom engravers
Online services take custom engraving orders with home delivery and are generally foreign-name friendly, translating or laying out names in hiragana, katakana, or kanji equivalents the customer chooses.2 Typical custom production takes about 2 to 7 days before shipping (as of 2026-09; confirm current lead times with the service).2
Example custom foreign-name seals run roughly USD 16 to 116 by tier and material (as of 2026-09).2 Delivery outside Japan adds weeks, so residents ordering after arrival avoid that delay entirely.
100-yen shops and ready-made seals
Ready-made cheap seals, called 三文判 (sanmonban, "cheap ready-made seal"), carry popular Japanese surnames and sell at 100-yen shops and stationery stores.12 They work immediately as a 認印 (mitomein, "everyday acknowledgement seal") for parcel receipts and casual paperwork.125
These seals do not work for most foreign names, since only common Japanese surnames are stocked. They also cannot serve as jitsuin or ginkoin, which require uniqueness that a mass-produced stamp lacks by definition.16
Materials and prices
| Tier | Material examples | Dated price band |
|---|---|---|
| Mitomein, ready-made | Mass-produced plastic or wood | About 110 JPY (as of 2026-09)12 |
| Basic order-made | Inexpensive wood, acrylic | About 1,000–3,000 JPY at budget outlets (as of 2026-09)2 |
| Mid-range order-made | Boxwood, maple, dyed birch | About 5,500–15,000 JPY (as of 2026-09)4 |
| Premium order-made | Rosewood, titanium, ivory substitute | About 10,000–50,000 JPY at specialty shops (as of 2026-09)4 |
The table above mixes a market-wide baseline with one shop's dated list. Treat every figure as an example anchored to its date, not as a national price list, and confirm with the shop before budgeting tightly.
Material choice follows the tier. Functional hardwood or quality acrylic is adequate for a mitomein. A ginkoin deserves something durable that prints consistently for years. A jitsuin, which verifies major transactions for decades, is the place to invest in quality carving.6
Foreign-name engraving: katakana or romaji
Most hanko shops accept foreign-name engraving in katakana or roman letters, so the choice is about acceptance, not availability.26 Ward offices and banks each apply their own format rules, covering katakana versus full romanization and family-first versus given-first ordering.7
Katakana matching the residence-card rendering is the safer default where the office has not stated a preference.67 A kanji seal is unsuitable for a foreign national whose recorded name is in romaji or katakana, since verification compares the impression against the recorded name and mismatches cause delays or rejection.6
Ask the accepting ward office or bank which rendering it records, then order the seal to match. Re-cutting a seal because the script was wrong wastes both the engraving fee and the production days.7
One consistency rule crosses every municipality: the name must be all one script, since alphabet-plus-katakana combinations are refused.7 Whatever rendering you choose, use it identically on the seal, the application form, and all later registered documents.
Production time and what to check before ordering
Typical custom engraving takes about 2 to 7 days (as of 2026-09).2 Size conventions follow the tier: mitomein around 10.5 to 12mm, ginkoin around 12 to 13.5mm, and jitsuin around 13.5 to 15mm, though some banks specify their own range worth checking first.6
Before ordering a seal meant for registration, confirm three things with the accepting office: the accepted name format, any size band, and whether the office needs to see the seal before the application day. Ordering first and asking later reverses the safe sequence.
Good to know
A 100-yen seal cannot become a jitsuin or ginko-in
Mass-produced impressions lack uniqueness and rubber deforms with use. Both properties are refusal grounds at registration, so a bargain stamp stays an everyday seal for its whole life.17
Order the registrable seal before you need the certificate
Custom engraving takes days and registration takes a counter visit, with proxy applications slower still. Anyone with a signing date should count backward from it and order with margin.2
Uniqueness matters for registered tiers
The jitsuin and ginkoin should be uniquely engraved, ideally hand-finished rather than mass-produced, because the impression itself is the identity reference counterparties verify. The mitomein carries no such burden and can stay cheap.6
See also
- Hanko vs. Signature for Bank Operations
- Bank Account Opening Documents in Japan
- Hanko and Signature for Delivery Receipts
- Signature Registration for Foreign Residents
- The Post-2020 Anti-Hanko Reform