JSON is wonderfully simple to work with - in a dynamic language. Having to map it to a statically known schema, as you would in a statically typed language, loses that simplicity and can be, as you say, a PITA.

I think that's a defect of JSON not statically typed languages.

"defect of JSON" while it could be better, it has some type definitions and as I said, people are too deep in the static world to see outside of it