Quote:

I think I have a candidate.

In my experience, Japanese and Korean people cannot be made to understand the meaning of "kitsch" or "tacky". Japanese pop culture is overwhelmingly cutesy-cutesy. Even the offical promotional emblem of the Japan Self-Defense Forces is comprised of a couple of doe-eyed, infantile munchkins.

But then, this is only a case of English-Japanese untranslatability.

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuteness_in_Japan



Kitsch is a German word so I don't think that counts as an untranslatable English word.