Some Japanese office workers are facing a small, but insurmountable hurdle to staying home under the state of emergency declared in parts of the country over the virus: personal signature stamps.

A reliance on paper filing systems in parts of Japan’s business world is forcing employees to go into work to put their unique seal on documents.

To do this they use tiny traditional stamps known as hanko or inkan — tools that date back centuries, but are still popular nationwide.

Usually cylindrical with a surface no larger than a fingernail, the tiny stamps are used with red ink to sign contracts, approve proposals and verify who has viewed what.

“I need to physically be in the office because I need to submit paper documents and stamp them,” Mizuho, who works at an IT firm in Tokyo, told AFP.