I have also heard that from Bill. Not sure if my sense of smell is tricking me or I have gotten lucky or my trees regularly bathed more, but I have had many RMJs throughout the years and none have smelled bad to me! Go figure.
Mine have slowly improved with cougar piss smell.
We can't graft every tree or we will end up with trees looking significantly the same.
I believe we as hobbyist have and opportunity to learn to control domestic foliage.
Style the tree and see what it looks like with the foliage. If it is not appealing, graft it.
Some folks love the look, feel, and temperament of the Japanese species. There is a bit of truth and bias in the love.
San Jose, Prostata create great trunks, but foliage can be difficult to some. I've debated about a graft to this tree.