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Comment by NalNezumi | Hacker News Reader

It might feel "overengineered" to people outside the Japanese society, but it actually just solves common issues here and it's not overengineering. The rotating mechanism is the easiest to see this.

First, Kanji signs are more detailed than the alphabet and uneven lines can make it really ugly/hard to read. Same issue with breaking lead, causes ugliness.

Second, traditionally handwriting in Japan have been seen as a way to measure one's upbringing; you can fake looks and style but if your handwriting is bad, that signals that your parents didn't raise you well. This was(and still is in some places) the reason resumes have to be handwritten.

So tools that helps your handwriting had uses beyond just utility.

(my handwriting is garbage and I'm happy IT and tech jobs doesn't check this)

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Might be better to think of 'regular' mechanical pencils as under-engineered, where the flaws are compensated for by using a lot lead and clicking a lot.

I've used the Uni Kuru Toga for years and have converted a few people to it. I don't think it's necessary for everyone, but it's just a great pencil.

It's also worth investing in better than the cheapest lead you can find as well. I prefer lead that is a little softer, and writes darker, than your standard "#2" pencil lead. There are a few sites dedicated to reviewing pens and pencils that are useful, and some have added on side stores where you can buy sampler packs.

I also recommend Paper Mate Flair felt tip marker pens for ink writing, especially if you've ever struggled with keeping legible notes.

Do they really use lead? Or is it graphite?

"Lead" pencils have never used actual lead (Pb). They have always been graphite, and they've always been called "lead".

Today, lead pencils contain a mix of graphite and clay, in ratios chosen to produce varying "darkness" of the marks. Higher graphite content is softer, darker, and wears more quickly.

The traditional classification scale runs from 9B ('B' for blackness) down to 1B, HB, F (for fine, or firm, but not meaningful really), 1H, and up to 9H ('H' for hardness). HB is the US-typical "#2 pencil".

Some early writing implements actually did use lead (Pb). Here's something da Vinci sketched in leadpoint (in part):

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1860-0616-...

Really looks like modern (graphite) pencil, doesn't it? (Unless I've misunderstood which parts are lead and which aren't -- but I think I've interpreted it right).

edit: Here's a technical article about how you can positively identify lead (Pb) in medieval drawings, and distinguish it from silver and other metals. (In case anyone was still skeptical). They show a variety of other examples.

https://sci-hub.se/10.1179/sic.2009.54.2.106 ("A Note on the Examination of Silverpoint Drawings by Near-Infrared Reflectography")

True. Metalpoint is not traditionally considered "pencil", but it can definitely be used for writing/drawing and the stylus has the same appearance and basic use.

Anecdote: In ~5th grade science class, we had a folded sheet of metallic lead that was passed around for students to handle. I suspect this practice has been discontinued!

At the time, I thought pencils contained real lead (Pb), so I tried to use the lead sheet to mark paper. It worked well! But not as well as (and had different marking characteristics from) a regular pencil. I assumed the improvements were part of the productization, but that the pencil still used real lead.

Wikipedia says, on the discovery of naturally-occurring graphite:

> Chemistry was in its infancy and the substance was thought to be a form of lead. Consequently, it was called plumbago (Latin for "lead ore").

It's funny how names stick. 500 years and counting on this one.

There _must_ be a market for writing out other peoples resumes.

I just quickly Googled it and the second hit was a page that offered it. (searched for 履歴書手書き代行)

https://writing-daiko.com/tegaki/service/rirekisho/index.htm...

I used to charge classmates for hand written love letters.

> It might feel "overengineered" to people outside the Japanese society...

I think the tone behind that word is more about being impressed by the thoughtfulness, and not at all derisive dismissal. If anything, I might detect a note of self-consciousness in the video's title-writer, perhaps a little embarrassment about being so impressed.

> resumes have to be handwritten.

Sounds incredibly easy to cheat, but also not something Japanese would do, would they?

Many aspects of resumes are easy to cheat.

List an undergrad at a more prestigious university while your graduate degree is accurate. There’s a high chance outside of government few will verify. Hell, lie about it all. I know for a fact my last big tech employer never verified education.

My point is finding edge cases where a person with a certain set of antisocial traits will abuse the system doesn’t mean there isn’t value in it. The majority of people won’t take the risk to their professional reputation and will be honest.

What makes you say that? Their attitudes towards concepts like cheating, deception and outcome over process behind the social wall of politeness and diligence might surprise you.

>Sounds incredibly easy to cheat

Not if they make you write something when you come for the interview. It's not uncommon to have to fill out a questionnaire, even in Western companies.

Many people say my handwriting is nice for a guy ( the other people say i write like a girl).

Cultures differ :p

Damn it have horrible handwriting but can type real fast... The times are'a changin.

Cool fact to know though. Makes sense like being 'read' is what is valued more in the west.

> resumes have to be handwritten.

This is elitist evil.

Is that any more elitist than judging the resume by grammar or by the prestige of the schools, former employers, and references it lists? Hiring is a situation where you're literally looking for the best: it's by definition elitist.

Unless the job is handwritting then it is unnecessary gatekeeping. And strikes me as elitist if they're trying to filter out lower classes.

Just because other practices are also elitist doesn't make this virtuous.

My point in bringing up the general elitism of hiring is this: people judge reliability, capability, and dedication by all sorts of clues, though the specifics differ by culture. I don't really see a problem with handwriting being one. A dedicated, capable, responsible person will, in a culture where good handwriting is considered a sine qua non of employability, develop excellent handwriting, because they want to be successful and are willing to work at it. In Elizabethan England, a young man wasn't fit for society unless he could join in a song and improvise harmony, and you can bet that the most dedicated, ambitious young men made sure they could do so. Neither is more arbitrary than some of the criteria the American hiring process relies on.

Many jobs don't benefit from these arbitrary signals. And people are born with diverse capabilities. So digging for weak signals causes systemic harm to whole groups of people. Folks who may be more than qualified for the work in question.

Let's learn from mistakes of the past instead of repeating them out of laziness or tribalism.

More ableist I think. Some people have bad handwriting due to physical or neurological conditions

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