You can absolutely save this tree. You just have to add a lot of movement. If the question is whether to keep or save, I say go for broke. Heavy bends, and if it snaps, it snaps. I see two options. Both of which will work for informal upright. Try to follow along, I know I can be confusing in explaining things in words when it's more of a visual art.
Option 1: Bend the living shit out of it.
1.) Structural- Assume the branch going to the left in your pic is going to be the first branch. Wire it down to start, add a bit of movement in the counterclockwise direction, and set the foliage so it spreads out in that pad shape we all know so much.
A.) What to do with the long leaning beanpole of a trunk- Well, theres good news here. The tree looks to be thin enough to get good strong bends in it. What I would do, keeping in mind this is your design, so you choose at the end of the day. I would choose the front as about 35 degrees counterclockwise from where it is in the pic, assuming there isn't a narrow nebari there. If there is, flip that 35 degree turn 180 degrees and use that as your set point. The key here is that you want the eventual apex coming towards the viewer. So, I would start with the basic principle that you will mostly be trying to bend the tree as far to the left as possible, while giving it some directionality forward as well. As you bend, make sure each branch is on the outside of a bend, and take the tree slightly vertical past that branches location. Think of it as a sort of step ladder, with varying step lengths and distances.
B.) Biggest problem and how to fix it- I don't see the length of the trunk being a problem, as you will just make a tall tree. What is a problem, however, is the way all the branches come off the top of the trunk. To fix this, as you apply wire, use it to twist the trunk a bit before applying the last two or three rotations of wire prior to each branch's start point. This will move the branches from all out the top to well distributed around the trunk.
2.) Branching- As you twist that trunk, the orientation of the foliage will shift on the branches. Make sure that when you set each branch, you are twisting, again, to bring the foliage to a flat pad. With everything going vertical now, there will be new foliage exposed to the sun, so protection from afternoon sun will help get that newly exposed foliage acclimated to the sun's rays. When you flatten the foliage into pads, it will probably get you some back budding because you will be increasing the photosynthetic capability of the tree. Don't prune right now, wire everything you have, no matter how sure you are it'll go eventually. It shouldn't go now. Make sure to look from above the tree before you start wiring the branches, but after you wire the trunk. Try to fill every space of a circle around the tree, and not to overlap one branch over the other. This will increase the tree's strength and potential to back bud heavily.
Option 2: Assume that the first branch on the left is your new trunk
This one is much easier to explain, wire the left branch up as if it will be the next step in the trunk. Over the next three to four years, cut back the foliage of the current main trunk in steps, and minimize your pruning of the new trunk on the left. Eventually you will work your way down to the origin of that trunk line, where you can build one hell of a shari and jin. Now you made a tree out of only the left side of the current tree.
Best of luck.
