Java is on life support as a language, but the ecosystem is strong, that's why it has all these weird features via annotations. And people who use Java are just trying to get stuff done like everyone else.
Like I said, the ecosystem is strong. The language's design hasn't aged well, so nowadays any Java code I see in prod has 1-4 annotations above every class and method to get around the limitations of the language. Similar to how some C code will rely heavily on macros.
That’s not due to the language, but due to the business domain (I assume web development). In this domain almost every framework, regardless of language, will heavily use metaprogramming, see django, etc.
