Funny how according to ChatGPT, both America and Japan require their pencil grade of choice for the exact same reason
Standards are not about finding the best solution. Standards are about making things uniform. So, the test reading equipment in Japan is optimized for one type of pencil, the test reading equipment in the US is optimized for another.
The advocates of standards always pretend that their standard is best when in fact the choice of standards is often happenstance.
This happens with almost every product. You will often see companies becoming the standard even when their product is second rate. One need look no further than Microsoft. They never had the best technology, but Bill Gates was adept at getting people to accept his second rate products as the standard.
!WINE
Very true. You put it well.