The end product is probably fine. I’m sure the Japanese Smiths had fine products in their day. That’s not debateable.
It’s just that the more time you have to fold the metal, the less products you can create. I suspect that European swords were cheaper to make because they could output more swords. If I had to buy a sword in Europe or Japan, given a choice, I’d probably buy a European sword for that reason.
Europe did have higher quality steel into the Middle Ages, but the Japanese developed a lot of advanced forging techniques to compensate. In the end, European swords tended to be lighter and springier.