[cxr]

You wrote, "I was talking about import in JavaScript itself, not build tools or package managers," and keep mentioning things like "the import syntax of the language", so this feels like retconning.

The confounding details you bring up are entirely the result of that idiosyncratic tooling. JS itself has `import`, thus there is no problem of the sort that you describe—at least not as you've described it. (I.e., this isn't to say that there are no problems, only that the way that your characterization of the problem as being one with "JS itself" doesn't match the problem that actually exists.)

To say it again, if you see a problem with JS, that's because you're elevating the parastandard stuff to a higher level than it deserves. If you're able to meaningfully separate "Java" from "Maven and Gradle" in your mind, then you should be able to do the same with "JS" and the NodeJS derpitude.