I think it's not just you, but certainly not everyone. Kotlin with Java 21+ is my go-to choice for an I/O-bound service, or really any service. It's just so ergonomic, and with virtual threads the code can be as simple and efficient as Go - while also taking advantage of possibly the best and largest library ecosystem in the world.

I'm not knocking Go or Python - if those are your preferred tools, they're more than adequate. Java, however, isn't nearly as irrelevant as you may perceive.