Casio marries ink stamps and technology

TOKYO - Japan's Casio Computer has found a way to marry Japan's love of ink stamps with its technological wizardry in the form of a desk-top device.

The "pomrie" gadget uses photographs taken on a smartphone or saved on a computer and makes them into a stamp that will allow users to repeatedly recreate versions of their favourite scenes using up to eight colours at a time.

Casio hopes the device, which melts a negative image onto a sponge material, leaving only the unmelted parts able to soak up ink, will prove popular in Japan, where stamps are still very common.

In addition to the personal seals widely used for identification in lieu of a signature, all Japanese companies have official stamps which must be used on formal documents.

Stamps with cartoon characters, or which have a slogan or a logo, are also immensely popular among children, and sometimes used by teachers as a reward system.