Japan has a strong gift culture, many things come wrapped in many layers for the purposes of gifting. I think plastic bags containing individually-wrapped-in-plastic items come from this idea: you can give someone a single item without worrying about contamination from unclean hands. Hi-chews are a good example of this.

I remember buying a few items at a department store in Japan and the clerk individually wrapped each item in paper, then wrapped all the items together in paper, then put it all in a paper bag.

They extensively use a 'heavy tissue'-like paper to wrap many items. A decorative plate I bought as a gift for my grandfather was wrapped in about 20 sheets of this paper. Great protection, but it did feel a little wasteful.