[steven]

If you flip open a dictionary there will always be something there for words. This word = that word. It's hardly reality... and it's often misleading for learners. Chiuchimu is right, you wouldn't really use those types of words in the same way in either language. You don't hear people saying "nostaligic!" when they see some old thing they used to like. It might be a nostalgic movie or toy or whatever, but you wouldn't call it that outloud in the present tense, so to speak. You don't hear people voice things like "おつかれ" or "おさきに" or "ビビッタ！" as much in English. Going into the world of 擬態語 will reveal a whole other realm of language that just doesn't exist in English (with a few exceptions if you look hard enough I'm sure).

I'm gonna stray a little bit and go as far as to say that I've heard people say that Japanese is a culture of holding back expression etc etc zen peace yadayadayada. While that might be true on some levels, I think there are many areas language wise that allows a Japanese person to really let out what they're feeling more so than English speakers. The opposite is also true of course, but I find myself trying to say a certain Japanese word that I use in English more so than trying to say a certain English word I know in Japanese. It could just be a result of me using Japanese more than English though too.