While important documents are signed off with a handwritten signature in many parts of the world, in Japan this occasion usually requires a ‘hanko’ or ‘inkan’. These are personalised ink seals, so one can stamp their name at the end of forms and contracts.

The official-looking and traditional styles of seal are the most popular, but recently we’ve seen some surprising designs on offer such as Pokemon themed hanko and some featuring animal motifs. What’s even more surprising is that these aren’t just novelty items, they are actually accepted as official seals for various banks and postal services.

A hanko design lineup which was just released last month will take you all the way back to early childhood with a hefty dose of nostalgia. These stamps are based on Eric Carle’s classic picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This book is particularly popular in Japan, even inspiring several themed cafes.

There’s five different designs to choose from, featuring the caterpillar himself in various illustrations, including one of him after he’s turned into a butterfly. Or if you like the outer illustration but would prefer a more professional seal design, you can just have the name with no motifs.

Once the design is selected, you can input the name to be engraved on the seal and up to six characters can be added. Rather than a name, phrases of encouragement in Japanese can also be written instead such as ‘頑張ってね！’ (Do your best!) and ‘できたね！’ (You did it!).

There’s also several choices for a case to keep the hanko in, all with charming illustrations from the story.

As it as accepted for various bank documents, it could make a fitting seal for a child opening their first bank account.

These hanko can be ordered on Monoiy’s online store and cost 5280 yen for the seal and 2780 for the case.