For handwritten resumes, the pain is kind of the point: handwriting hundreds of copies, which must be perfect down to the last stroke, is how new grads demonstrate their diligence and commitment to future employers. (It's still an idiotic relic though.)

This speaks to the idea that a lot of Japanese culture, especially business culture, is performative.

Hardly unique, but I think it’s easy to be blind to one’s own cultural bias.

It's not unique, but it is a special case.

Having posted open job reqs online in the past couple years and seen the absolute deluge of fraudulent resumes you get, I'd welcome this culture.

Things are changed though. I work for a Japanese company, and when I applied for my current job the whole process was fully online.

The website was crap though, as most Japanese web services are, but that is another topic...