I work at a hotel and there are several Japanese guests. I am Japanese American, and I have conversations with them in Japanese whenever we see each other. Today, one of the Japanese guests approached me. I haven't really interacted with this particular guy too much, but he knew I'm Japanese. There was a major language barrier for him, he couldn't speak English, and I struggled to say certain words/phrases, but we understood each other perfectly. I even tried to tell him my Japanese isn't perfect, but he was still very impressed by me.
He told me how his keys weren't working to unlock the gym doors. "Oh, that's terrible (used the word "taihen")!" I said. I asked for his keys and rescanned them. "Now, let's begin the experiment (used the word "jikken")!" I said. I let my mentor know I'll be right back. As I went down the hall with this man, I told him how Nozawa (the main Japanese guest who talks to me) and I really like Gundam. He had a good laugh, and I was able to unlock the doors with his keys. The man said he will do the gym later, and I said, "Do lot's of exercise and become very strong!"
He was very happy, and he said he was glad I could help him. I told him, "I like to help guests as a hero, like a Kamen Rider! But I cannot henshin." I made him super happy, and that made me feel very good. Even my mentor was impressed by how well I could speak Japanese.
Unfortunately, when I shared this story with my mom after work (she's Japanese) and my brother, they got very bothered by my vocabulary. They weren't happy with me using words like "taihen (terrible)" or "jikken (experiment)." They all think I'm talking like an anime character, even though they weren't there to witness my conversation with the guest. I was angry at them, but I will admit that I need to learn to take constructive criticism better, but my family seemingly finds it problematic that I'm mostly learning and retaining Japanese through anime and tokusatsu.
by B_Wing_83