not just Japan, the German-speaking countries in EU are the same. A signature on a fax is legally binding, a sig on a scanned and emailed doc is not. Tax author

not just Japan, the German-speaking countries in EU are the same. A signature on a fax is legally binding, a sig on a scanned and emailed doc is not. Tax authorities 'prefer' paper trails as well, going fully electronic is not allowed - and you need to keep stuff for at least 7 years. e-mail to fax gateways still are very popular in b2b solutions. not all technology moves on in parallel.