Others have given full explanations. I just wanted to add that for some reason faxes are still quite commonly used in Japan. I know in US, say 10 years ago, I had to fax some documents to a lawyer because they wanted an official time stamp and if they had to they could produce a document showing exactly when they received it. So maybe that’s a reason it’s still used in Japan. Who knows exactly.
https://m.dw.com/en/coronavirus-crisis-changing-japans-work-culture/a-53350759
It’s how you sent messages across geographical distances before email was a thing.
A lot of businesses now use virtual fax numbers, meaning that they do not have a physical fax machine sitting in the office, and the document that was sent to the fax number from a fax machine on the sender’s side is forwarded to the receiver’s email.
Ask me anything about it, I don’t know everything, but I’ve used fax for quite a while. Both physical and virtual fax machines
In the olden days (like up to 15 years ago) if you wanted to send someone a copy of a document you would fax it.
It’s essentially a dial up image transfer. The fax machine at one end scans the image, connects via a phone call to the fax machine at the other end, transmits the data across the phone line for the documents image and then the receiving fax machine prints it.
Obviously, email is quicker and easier and fax machines have mostly fallen out of use.
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