I’ve said before that he loves first generation rotring 
His reasoning was that while Mitsubishi had more innovation, Rotring made a more consistent mechanism. He also said it was hard to choose between the two. I’d need to try out the early Rotrings to know if they are this great. If it was about stationery (but more particularly drafting) a point could be made about their history with technical pens…
I agree with you. I don’t like the minor brands that much as well, Tombow to me stands out while Sakura was like a bright fire, they burned hot and bright for a short period (which inflates the price of any pencil they made). And Pentel, Pilot and Mitsubishi are the top, undoubtedly the most innovative and important brands.
From Damdeok:
Well… the answer to that me was that at first too. It is the perception that Japan is superior to Europe. This was an illusion. The reason is that I get a feeling after using the first generation. I mean, there’s definitely a significant difference.
It can be seen that Japan has a majority in brands and mechanisms than Europe. However, my subjective opinion judges that Europe is superior to Japan.
Depending on the results of the judgment on this, you may be disappointed, but I make that judgment.