300 Writing Prompts: Something Weird

In my purse I keep my inkan from Japan. An inkan is a red stamp with your last name on it that serves as your official signature. You need to get it formally registered at city hall and then it's used for contracts, business, legal stuff, etc.

I have two of them. One of them is in romaji written as BUTKE, and the other one is in katakana written as バキ. I had to register my romaji stamp at city hall because Kikuchi was very strict about my inkan matching my name as how it is written on my passport.

The katakana inkan was a welcome present to me from a friend, and I used that for informal things like signing for packages coming through the mail.

Anyway, I never knew when I'd need an inkan for something, so I kept both of them in the back zipper of my purse. This habit has continued in the US. I need to go and take them out and put them in a safe space while I remember.