How to start!
Vowels Japanese pronunciation is pretty easy, it has  simple rules that don't fail.
NEXT! There is a bit of accent /roll on the "R", just a little, nothing like Spanish. If you have trouble accenting your "R", then try a light "D" in its place.
Elongated vowels! Watch it! Click here!!! Enlongated vowls are vowels that when they have certain vowels after them, they are held an extra beat. aa - aa ii - ii uu - uu ei - ee ou -oo "ei" and "ou" are the irregular ones. Okaasan - Mother Baai - Case, situation Kawaii - Cute Atarashii - New Shuu - Week Fuu - seal Arigatou - Thank you kyou - today Kirei - pretty/clean Rei - zero But in some cases "oo" and "ee" are used: ookii - Big honoo - Flame Neesan - Older sisiter
Double consonants! っ huh? whats that? ... Thats a pause! This is the hiragana mark that makes a double consonant possible! まって Matte- wait やっと Yatto - finally きっさてん Kissaten - coffee shop けっこう Kekkou - wonderful けっこん Kekkon - wedding ばっちり Bacchiri - perfectly びっくり Bikkuri - surprised
I bet you guys are glad I have I have videos now Video coming soon! He he you need to hear it to understand! ^__^ This pause in itself is also a segment of a sort. The consonant following the っ's sound is held during th pause, but not said.. Thats my trick! びっくり Bikkuri - surprised Say "bi" then pause with a "k" sound almost ready to blurt out, then say "ku" then "ri" So your mouth was making a "k" sound, yet no sound was coming out, then "ku" "ri" It's like your already to say "ku" but you can speak.. but your mouth is in the right position. Think thats hard? try and say:
LOL, can you start with the proper pause? | Segments!
Watch it! Click here!!!
Why segments are so important will be easyer to show with the kana charts The easiest ones are the 5 vowels. a i u e o あ い う え お
The next type is the consonant- vowel ka ki ku ke ko
か き く け こ
Next is the consonant-consonant- vowel shi tsu chi し つ ち Next are the glides kya kyu kyo きゃ きゅ きょ For a more indepth explaination of glides go to about kana etc. Finally is n n ん When speaking Japanese each type of segment is used. When saying words each Please check out my other video lessons too
Here are some examples using segments: ni ho n - Japan ku ru ma - Car a ka i - Red ko n ni chi wa - Good after noon kyo u - Today People often neglect the extra "n" in  konnichiwa, "n" and "ni" can't be fused togeather. They are separate segments! This is a prime example of why segments are so important. Without segments it's hard to know how to say words. *Think of segments as notes of a song, each segment is a whole note. No matter  how big or small it looks it is still a whole note. Think of the size as it's pitch, no matter the pitch the note is still the same length. Just because a pitch is low doesn't turn it into a quarter note, neither does the length of a segment.
Not in Japanese Unlike in English there are some consonants, thats aren't in Japanese , such as: L V X Q Instead of "L", "R" is used instead of "V", "B" insead of "Q", "ku" or "kyuu" may be used. A great example is: "Love" it has both "L" and "V". Love - Rabu Of course when words are being taken from English into Japanese there are very weird and inconstant rules. However it's more instinctive as you learning Japanese. Also there is no: "Ti", "di", si", "tu", "fa", "fi" "fe" "fo", "ca", "ci", "cu", "ce", "co", "we", "wi", "wu" However with special katakana rules these sounds can be made, however they are not in any real Japanese word. Click the link above "About kana etc" for more details about katakana.
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Lets get to it! 
segment get equal value, regardless if it's, a, ka, shi, kya, or n. For example, if each segment was given one second to be said, then a is one second, just as kya is. This will help you pronounce words properly in Japanese. 
For me, one day I was just able to turn words from English to Japanese with little error. But sometimes I need to think hard or I will mess up. :D Please look at