I'm not sure of the deep anthropological explanation, but ceremony, place, order and formality are all very important in Japanese society. This is a culture th

I'm not sure of the deep anthropological explanation, but ceremony, place, order and formality are all very important in Japanese society. This is a culture that awards black belts not only in martial arts, but also in flower arranging. As the article mentions, paper documents are an important part of ritual -- they can be stamped, folded, stapled, filed, etc. Couple this with the fact that Japan was rebuilt after WWII in the model of the 1950's US Military, which I have to imagine was centered around forms and paperwork. One final anecdote -- when doing business in Japan, I have personally known customers who showed up to meetings with a binder containing copies of literally every white paper and presentation I had ever given to them over a 2-3 year period. Even in the pre-Web 2.0 days, this drilled into me the importance of forethought and consistency in business, since you could find yourself confronted at any moment with your own evidence.