Re: Personal seals

jim_breen_at_idontreadhotmail.com
Date: 06/28/04 

Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 22:25:34 GMT

Apud shuji matsuda <shuji__matsuda@hotmail.com> (sci.lang.japan) hoc legimus:
>In article <rHJDc.68038$sj4.12027@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
>jim_breen@idontreadhotmail.com wrote:
>:See http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/banned.html for Stephen Turnbull's
>:experience with foreigners using seals with kanji on them.

>The problem is that this guy does not have officially registered name in
>Koseki, the family registration for Japanese citizens.

I wouldn't be too sure of that. Steve is married to a Japanese, and is
probably listed in his wife's Koseki.

>Aliens should have their
>passports to prove their identity.

Or a $B309q?MEPO?>ZL@=q(B, which is more usual for long-term residents.

>The reluctance of the government official to
>recognize the authenticity of his seal probably came from the fact
>that the alien
>could not produce any document that backs up his Kanji-written name.

I gather from Steve that the person in Monbusho who issued that
order for him to stop using a seal with kanji made no request
for any documentation.

>In other words, if his name was written in appropriate government-issued
>documents, for example, passports of Chinese citizens, or Alien Registration
>records of Korean residents in Japan, I do not think the government official
>found any problem recognizing the seal written in Kanji of those names.
>This is not a problem of race, but of authenticity of the name written.

I agree on that point. I think it was a wee bit naughty to use a kanji
seal on official documents. The only seal I have is a $B6d9T0u(B saying
$B%V%j!<%s(B, but I don't use it for anything except my bank account.

Steve does wonder if those poor Tsukubadai students who graduated
on the basis of exam results he certified using his kanjified seal
really have valid degrees. 

-- 
Jim Breen        http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/
Computer Science & Software Engineering,
Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia 
$B%8%`!&%V%j!<%s(B@$B%b%J%7%eBg3X(B

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Personal seals
    ... register a seal with kanji on it too and was not allowed to. ... The staff at the city office explained that the characters on ... Since I didn't normally write my name in kanji, ... > experience with foreigners using seals with kanji on them. ...
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  • Re: Personal seals
    ... :experience with foreigners using seals with kanji on them. ... Aliens should have their ... The reluctance of the government official to ... found any problem recognizing the seal written in Kanji of those names. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)