Personally, I don't give a shit about the "Japanese-ness" of bonsai. When I was a teenager, I might have been classified as a "weeaboo" because I watched anime and even took classes to learn Japanese... but as an "adult" I find the worshiping of Japanese culture so be pretty silly. Japan didn't invent bonsai. They didn't "refine" it, as so many claim. They gave it their own name and they put their own cultural spin on it. But you can't perfect an art of emotional expression.
As an individual, the best you can do is attempt to create trees that have the most emotional value to YOU. What other people say does not matter. Maybe I am projecting my feelings as a member of the LGBTQ minority, but I'm sick of looking for the acceptance of others, in any aspect of my life. So many people are obsessed with what others think. Find your own identity. When it comes to bonsai, grows trees that have the most emotional impact to you. If you think "the rules" define an "ideal tree" that's great, but understand that your opinion is no objective fact. It's a subjective opinion. Don't tell other people that what they're doing is wrong. Finally, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What one person finds ugly, another person may find beautiful. YOUR idea of what is beautiful is not universal. It's not objective or "right". Don't push it on others as if it were law.
In short: do what you want with your trees but don't be an asshole to others and enforce your beliefs as if they were objective facts.
