NB: this is not meant as a thorough or exhaustive description of Japanese phonetics or phonology. The data are simplified for pedagogical purposes. Place, manner and voicing of consonants are not given here.
/r!/ = a voiced flap
Japanese has contrastive vowel length: CF /obason/ 'aunt' /aba:san/ 'grandmother'
/i i:/
/e e:/
/a a:/
/u u:/
/o o:/