Among the pleasures of Japanese—for me—are words that evoke or define ideas, concepts, feelings we don't have in English or are not as common or are expressed differently. Each one expands my sense of what is possible or enlarges my view of reality. For example, I just stumbled across 抹香臭い、(makkoukusai).
My online Japanese dictionary defines it as "smelling of incense; overly pious," which is, I believe, a criticism of a Buddhist or Shinto priest who spends so much time praying while burning incense, he stinks of it.
I believe other English approximations could be sanctimonious, self-righteous, holier-than-thou, churchy, pious, pietistic, moralizing, unctuous, smug, superior, priggish. This is what makes translating a challenge.
In the story in which the word appears, one character is talking to another and a literal translation might be "Jiro, why do you smell of incense?" which in the context does not make sense. Better might, "Jiro, why are you overly pious?" Or better yet, "Jiro, why are you so self-righteous?"
This is what makes translating fun.
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