Hiragana

Here is the full set of hiragana, the script used for native Japanese words.

Read across each row as the consonant joined to the five pure vowels.

	a	i	u	e	o
—	あ a	い i	う u	え e	お o
k	か ka	き ki	く ku	け ke	こ ko
s	さ sa	し shi	す su	せ se	そ so
t	た ta	ち chi	つ tsu	て te	と to
n	な na	に ni	ぬ nu	ね ne	の no
h	は ha	ひ hi	ふ fu	へ he	ほ ho
m	ま ma	み mi	む mu	め me	も mo
y	や ya		ゆ yu		よ yo
r	ら ra	り ri	る ru	れ re	ろ ro
w	わ wa				を wo
n	ん n

A few of these are not spelled the way an English eye expects.

The し in the s row is "shi", not "si".
The ち in the t row is "chi", not "ti".
The つ in the t row is "tsu", a single sound, the "ts" of "cats" followed by "oo".
The ふ in the h row is "fu", a soft "f" made with both lips rather than teeth.
The ら row is closer to a light "d" or a flap than to an English "r", but "r" is the accepted spelling.

Two more marks change the consonant, not the vowel.

A small pair of strokes, called dakuten 濁点だくてん, softens a sound:
か "ka" becomes が "ga",
さ "sa" becomes ざ "za",
た "ta" becomes だ "da",
は "ha" becomes ば "ba".

A small circle, called handakuten 半濁点はんだくてん, turns the h row into a p: は "ha" becomes ぱ "pa".
The vowels underneath stay exactly the same.

Finally, two things about rhythm.
A small つ before a consonant marks a short silent pause, a doubling of that consonant, as in the "tt" of "Nippon".

And ん is the one lone consonant, an "n" or "m" sound that stands by itself.

When you reach a Japanese word later, sound it out by these five vowels and it will be close to right.

Katakana, the sister script used for words borrowed from other languages, sounds identical to hiragana and follows the same five vowels.