I found an interesting article about the history of go rules:
Here are some key points that are relevant to the discussion above:
The modern Japanese and Chinese rules (or any go rules for that matter) were not formally written down until the mid 20th century. Before that, they were both passed down through oral tradition and understood conventions among the go community.
Go was introduced to Japan about 1300 years ago (or maybe even earlier). This means go would have a spread into Japan via an ancient form of stone scoring rules.
The modern Japanese rules did not evolve from (and are not an attempt to replicate) the modern Chinese rules. They both evolved (and since diverged) from am ancient common ancestor that employed stone scoring.
The group tax effect of stone scoring may have been the historical influence for the Japanese rule that eyes of groups in seki positions do not count as territory.
Stone scoring persisted in China until the beginning of the 20th century, while the Japanese rules seems to have eliminated the group tax effect for living groups much earlier. Perhaps, that Japanese development even influenced the modern Chinese rules.