Here’s the best explanation why the Japanese still rely on faxes.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19045837
I often deal with off shore companies to get competing bids. A lot of Japanese companies won’t even give an email address to contact them. So they lose out since I refuse to fax them the request.
One other possible candidate for the Japanese “love affair” with faxes, calligraphy, etc: Did you ever see an oriental language “typewriter”, see one actually in operation or (better yet) sit down and doodle up a design for one?
...looks to me like the Mother of All Migranes for that last item.
However, (returning to topic) my year-old Epson printer has a very nice fax capability built in, I’ve got it connected to the world and the only use I’ve had from it is the occasional test-or-maybe-some-wrong-number that causes the machine to squeak at me a couple of times and then shut off in deep disgust.
If I have some spare time some evening, I think I’ll generate a message and fax it just to tip my hat to the designers.