In article <rHJDc.68038$sj4.12027@news-server.bigpond.net.au>, 
jim_breen@idontreadhotmail.com wrote:
:See http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/banned.html for Stephen Turnbull's
:experience with foreigners using seals with kanji on them.

The problem is that this guy does not have officially registered name in 
Koseki, the family registration for Japanese citizens.  Aliens should have their
passports to prove their identity.  The reluctance of the government official to 
recognize the authenticity of his seal probably came from the fact that the alien 
could not produce any document that backs up his Kanji-written name.

In other words, if his name was written in appropriate government-issued
documents, for example, passports of Chinese citizens, or Alien Registration
records of Korean residents in Japan, I do not think the government official
found any problem recognizing the seal written in Kanji of those names.  
This is not a problem of race, but of authenticity of the name written.