Bicycle Quarterly publisher is a Francophile .. been promoting his preferences,
for a long time.

Japan too has a lot of Francophile people too,, that is why you get French style racks from Nitto.

and light skin-wall 650B tires .. from Japanese manufacturers.

650B is French a size between US cruiser based 26", and French 700c, and slightly larger 27"

People want to do something with their old, freebie, 27" frames ..