It's not an isolated example. There is a perfectionist streak in Japanese culture, which you can observe if you study any of their traditional arts (karate, tea ceremony, etc.) This shows up in the quality of some of their consumer goods.
As another example, there was a Japanese chalk company (Hagoromo) which has unfortunately gone out of business, but which built up a fanatical following among mathematicians. I am a mathematician myself, and I found their chalk to be noticeably superior to anything which I'd previously tried.
A South Korean company bought some of Hagamoro's machines and is making chalk branded as "Hagamoro Fulltouch". I haven't used it but I've heard it's still good.
As another example, there was a Japanese chalk company (Hagoromo) which has unfortunately gone out of business, but which built up a fanatical following among mathematicians. I am a mathematician myself, and I found their chalk to be noticeably superior to anything which I'd previously tried.