In spring 2020, Japan was under a state of emergency because of COVID-19. The company SmartHR wrote of hanko shukkin, going to the office in order to stamp a seal on documents. On May 1, 2020, the company Paperlogic surveyed 105 office workers. 44.8 percent said that they had gone to the office at least once, even under the state of emergency, to stamp contracts or ringi approval documents.
Mother and Child Handbook
Under Article 16 of Japan’s Maternal and Child Health Act, a municipality must give a boshi kenkō techō, a maternal and child health handbook, to every woman who notifies it of a pregnancy. Each time she has a health check or receives guidance from a doctor, dentist, midwife or public health nurse, the necessary entries must be made in the handbook.
The handbook began in 1942 as a handbook for expectant and nursing mothers. It became the mother and child handbook in 1948 and took its present name in 1966.
Attendance Stamps
Each summer, Japan Post Insurance distributes rajio taisō shusseki kādo, attendance cards for radio calisthenics, mainly through elementary schools. In 2025, distribution began on June 9. The cards encourage children to get up early during the summer vacation.
In an essay published by the Postal Museum, the writer recalls the morning routine. After the exercises, the pupil from the top grade who led the group stamped the card each child had brought, as sanka no akashi, proof of taking part.
Family Register
Japan’s Ministry of Justice describes the koseki, the family register, in one sentence. It registers and certifies a person’s family relations from birth to death, it is compiled for Japanese nationals, and it is the only system that also certifies Japanese nationality.
The Missing Daily Reports
Units of the Self-Defense Forces in the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan wrote nippō, daily reports. After a disclosure request in October 2016, the Ground Self-Defense Force answered that the reports had already been discarded and did not exist. On March 15, 2017, NHK reported that the reports were still kept within the Ground Self-Defense Force.
On July 28, 2017, the results of a special defense inspection were published. The same day, Defense Minister Inada Tomomi said that she had handed her resignation to Prime Minister Abe Shinzō that morning and that it had been accepted.
Ending the Seal
On November 13, 2020, Kōno Tarō, minister for administrative reform, said at a press conference that 14,992 kinds of administrative procedures, including attached documents, required a seal. Of these, 14,909, more than 99 percent, would no longer require one. Only 83 would keep it. Every mitomein, the everyday seal that does not prove identity, would be abolished.
Altered Approval Documents
On March 12, 2018, the Ministry of Finance reported to directors of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors that 14 documents had been altered in dozens of places. The documents concerned a transaction of state land with the school operator Moritomo Gakuen. According to Akahata, the newspaper of the Communist Party, the ministry’s Financial Bureau had altered the lease and sale resolutions and a kessai bunsho, an approval document.
Akahata reported that the deleted passages included the names of Prime Minister Abe Shinzō, his wife Akie and several other politicians.
What Existed Cannot Be Made Not to Exist
On May 25, 2017, Maekawa Kihei held a press conference. He had been administrative vice-minister of education, the highest civil servant of the ministry. He spoke about internal documents on the plan of the Kake Gakuen school group to open a veterinary faculty.
The documents, he said, had been shared among senior officials and had certainly existed. Atta mono wa nakatta koto ni dekinai. What existed cannot be made not to exist.
Memorandum
In Japanese business, an oboegaki, a memorandum, records what both sides have agreed. When the terms of a contract change after signing, the parties may record the change in an oboegaki. Exchanging one serves as evidence that both sides agreed to the added or changed terms.
Delay Certificate
When a train runs late, Japanese railway companies issue a chien shōmeisho, an official delay certificate. Japanese companies and schools often require one to excuse lateness.
JR East issues them at stations and online. In September 2012, it extended the period covered by online certificates from 7:00 to 9:00 in the morning to 7:00 to 11:00.