Even in the US, not participating in on campus recruiting makes the job hunt much harder as a new grad (from personal experience). That being said I agree that

Even in the US, not participating in on campus recruiting makes the job hunt much harder as a new grad (from personal experience). That being said I agree that the penalty is much less than in Japan where entire careers will close their doors on you for basically the rest of your life. In the US we have opportunities to claw back even after we have setbacks.