Alexithymia, characterized by difficulty identifying and describing feelings (DIF, DDF) and an externally oriented thinking style, has been linked to intensified negative emotions in dreams. However, it remains unclear whether individuals with high alexithymia truly experience stronger dream emotions, or whether this reflects a bias in emotional recognition after awakening. To address this question, 282 Japanese adults completed the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire (MADRE), and rated eight emotions (four positive, four negative) experienced in their most recent dream. Correlational and regression analyses showed that the Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF) subscale consistently predicted stronger overall dream emotion, a more negative tone, and greater nightmare frequency and distress. No significant associations were observed between alexithymia and positive emotions. To further verify whether these intense reports reflected actual experience, a supplementary analysis compared subjective and objective ratings based on the same dream texts (N = 278). The two ratings were moderately to highly correlated (r = .59-.82), yet subjective scores were systematically higher than objective ones. Moreover, higher DIF predicted larger discrepancies between subjective and objective ratings of negative emotions (β = .20, p < .05). These findings suggest that individuals with high alexithymia, particularly those with high DIF, may not necessarily experience stronger emotions during dreaming, but rather overestimate their emotional intensity due to difficulties in identifying and labeling affective states. Together, the results highlight how emotional awareness influences dream experience and underscore the importance of combining subjective and objective approaches to understanding emotion in dreams.