It's more often a factor of how the steel is treated and the resulting hardness of the blade.

Japanese knives are usually heat treated to a much higher hardness. That makes them more resistant to wear, but much more easy to chip if the blade isn't used for smooth, clean cuts and twists on the cutting board or chops bones, for example.

At the other end of the spectrum, you have German knives where they are not as hard, which makes the edge more durable to abuse but prone to losing it's sharpness faster.

In addition, eastern knives are often ground to a finer angle of like 10 to 12 degrees, while western knives are more blunt at 15 or even 20 degrees. A finer edge is by definition thinner, so combine that with higher hardness and you have a blade that can be seen as fragile to people that don't know better or are not as careful. On the other hand, it's seen by professionals as superior because they simply cut better and last longer, provided they are cared for.