I think the use of faxes is related to the Japanese obsession with personal business relationships. You can't open a bank account without an introduction to the

I think the use of faxes is related to the Japanese obsession with personal business relationships. You can't open a bank account without an introduction to the bank manager. You can't rent a cellphone without having a man in a suit hand-deliver it to you, show you how it works, and remind you that it needs to be returned promptly. Faxes are more personal than e-mail; you know that the fax you receive is the result of somebody hand-feeding a piece of paper that they physically signed into a machine, and it went over physical wires connected to a telephone. There's also the Japanese spiritual tradition that every object has a spirit; it's hard to feel spiritually connected to software.