Its not widely known, outside of historians and people with an interest in the subject, but a number of things in the Imperial Japanese military were "heavily influenced" (including directly copied) by European designs and organizations. The British had a large influence, particularly on the Japanese Navy. A couple of the Japanese battleships we sunk during WWII were built in Great Britain.
When Japan decided to adopt a larger round than the 6.5mm Arisaka, they looked at the .303 British, and in their own fashion, "made it Japanese".
They had their version of the Lewis gun, and for that, their 7.7mm was essentially identical to the .303 British, rimmed case and all.
Their version for other machine guns, and their rifles used a rimless case, but the bullets, and pressures, and velocities are the same as the .303 British.
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I think the very late war 99,s are what made the reloading manuals go with low pressure loads.
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This is entirely possible, our loading manuals tend to be conservative when there are known examples of weaker rifles out there. And, by conservative I mean not going much, if any beyond what the round is spec'd for.
The "late war" type 99s are a subject of some confusion. There were type 99s made in some of the arsenals that are every bit as sound as those produced earlier, but aren't as well finished and lack non-essential features found in the early production guns. There are also "type 99s" that were training and drill rifles, converted to fire live ammo. Those, and the ones said to be made of cast iron are referred to as "last ditch" rifles, and they are considered unsafe to shoot.