I contacted a Toyota engineer friend and this was his reply on the seals -
Those Hood seals, above each headlamp and in the middle of the hood leading edge, are there to make sure the air flows as designed through the radiator. They somewhat prevent air from flowing in under the front edge of the hood and causing a weird(unplanned) pressure condition in the engine compartment that could cause conditions that are not favorable to drawing air in through the condenser/radiator path.
They also help prevent a lot of water and crud from coming in under that same leading edge and getting all over the engine/drive belts which would cause other problems, of course.
Always consider ALL environments when looking at LC parts. It might not matter in North America, but Arctic Russia, Jungles in South America, the Bush in Australia, the Mountains in Afghanistan, the salty coast of Oman and other places can generate some weird requirements to make something a "Global" design. Customer usage in each region also gets attention when things break from unexpected customer usage. People in other(Not North America) regions find really crazy things to use their vehicle for.
