Anti-Hanko Movement
Today is the gubernatorial election day in Tokyo.
The leader should be the one who can break the legacy.
Hanko — physical presence at our office
Nobody had ever thought of how the Hanko culture forced us to go to office everyday in Japan before covid19 outbreak.
As the one taking care of paperworks for colleagues and clients, I almost went out every single day in April in order to stamp on some documents from banks, financial institutions and governmental offices.
Although most of our job is replaced with laptops, many Japanese traditional institutions require us to print out documents, and get stamps on the paper by visiting the one holding Hanko.
Symbol of legacy
For me Hanko is just like high heels — takes additional time to process the same task.
If I wear flat shoes, I can walk 1km for 15 minutes or I can even run.
High heels give extra 5 minutes. Does wearing high heels make any change for the output of our work? — No.
Has any guy been asked to wear high heels and go to several meetings running around a city and hurting toes? — No.
Who are the people holding Hanko when we need to get approval to start a project?
Whenever I need Hanko, the people putting stamp on papers are all male unless they hire secretaries.
Change from inconvenience
Cool-biz started in 2005. Since then, many male workers are freed from ties in summer. The advocator was Junichiro Koizumi, one of the most innovative prime ministers in Japan who led privatization of government-owned systems.
The person who actually pushed the change as the Minister of the Environment was Yuriko Koike — currently the Governor of Tokyo.
We spent about 15 years since then, and many corporates are still asking women to wear high heels. In addition, wearing high heels require wearing stockings. If you haven’t worn it, you would have no idea how it gets torn so easily and we need to spend a few coins every time whenever it gets torn in public.
Just like the relationship between high heels & stockings, Hanko asks us to spend a few coins every time when we have documents that require Hanko regardless of how much risks we need to take by using public transportation and meeting people in person.
Does stamping Hanko on documents make any change for the output of our work if we need to just get an approval? — No.
We are stuck with this legacy
Hanko is not just about the replacement of signature process.
This is the symbol of power, title, and visualization of the difference between those who own it and the rest.
Allegiance test with physical object
Movie “Silence” by Martin Scorsese captured the story of missionary. About three centuries ago, Japan was trying to ban Christianity and asked all the Christians to take allegiance test. They are asked to step on the image of Christ by creating a plate with a crucifix.
The movie is not only about religion and faith, but the whole story describes how Japan uses physical objects to visualize allegiance. The allegiance test with the plate against Christians banned in 1856. A decade later, Japan opened up for foreign countries, and started westernization.
The era of digitalization
Finally Japan is facing the shift of digitalization. The Government of Japan proposed the transformation from Hanko culture, but the transformation is not just about installing digital tools and applying new technologies.
All the push backs from people who own, people who want to keep their privilege and title in the organization, and people who cannot follow the cutting edge technologies that will transform the power structure.
We can be ignorant by keeping silence — not having discussion about the systematic power difference, avoiding new tools and keeping the traditions that makes harder for new comers to take control over — but digitalized communication enabled too many voiceless people to speak up.
What we need is building relationships and bridging between legacy business model and digital transformation.
Follow this page, and get involved the platform that leads change in Japan
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kobe-international-blockchain-research-centre/
