In Japan, hanko (name stamps) are used in lieu of signing your name as the way of signifying agreement, and the culture of these stamps has always been fascinating to gaijin unfamiliar with Japanese ways. Now you can get any kanji name you want on your very own Japanese name stamp. This is a quality stamp made of wood with any custom name or message you want on it, which will be a great connection to you and Japan. This name stamp is also legally able to be used in Japan (just register it with your local city office).

You can choose between 1-6 kanji, hiragana or katakana characters, and the Japanese staff of J-List will be happy to help you choose the best character for what you want to express. This type of stamp is usually used for names, and there are multiple approaches foreigners can take when choosing a name. Here are three examples:

This is an example of a name in katakana, the Japanese writing system used for foreign words and names. It says "Payne."	Kanji can be chosen based on their pronunciation, too. In this case we're using the "peh" sound from Peking ("North Capital") and the "in" sound from the Buddhist temple Byodoin near Kyoto.	There are ways of choosing kanji based on meaning, called ateji or forcing a reading on a character. For example, "Payne" comes from the French pan (bread), the name could be written with a character (archaic in this case) for bread.

This stamp can also be used to express your favorite character or concept, from love (ai) to sincerity (makoto) to a wacky message you'd like to create, as long as it can fit within the character limit for this stamp. After adding this item to your shopping cart you can type comments to the J-List staff and we'll verify the characters you want before finalizing the order. We also humbly request to include a pronunciation guide for all unique spelling of names.

Since the stamps are custom made by a company here in Japan, please allow 2-4 weeks for your name stamp to be made, prior to the shipping date.