This is a Japanese Maple (one of my favorite trees). The leaves are coming in thickly in close, but the extremities are without leaves.

The extremities are soft and don't snap...but alas, there are no leaves...and the leaves that are coming out are close to the branches and not on the existing twigs.

What is wrong (other than the obvious misfortunate of being located in OUR yard - all cycling and no time for gardening makes this tree a poor unfortunate for sure)? Should I just strategically prune it?