While I'm not arguing that a bit less tension is wrong, I suspect your stropping action is not quite right either. If the tension on the strop was the whole problem, paddle strops wouldn't work - and yet many of us use them. You should maybe try torquing the edge just a little while still keeping the spine in contact. I find a heel leading cross stroke works fine on smiling blades - and I have a couple of the extreme Saito blades.