The first Japanese character set is called Hiragana (ひらがな. Instead of each character representing a sound like the English alphabet, each Kana (the general term for a Hiragana or Katakana character) stands for a single syllable.

There are five vowels, almost identical to English, though they have slightly different pronunciations.

あ a "a" in "father"
い i "ee" in "creek"
う u "oo" in "moon"
え e "e" in "pet"
お o "o" in "own"

From these, the rest of the base kana are made using each vowel combined with one consonant to form a single syllable.

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 HIRAGANA

*は (ha) can be pronounced wa and を (wo) pronounced o, depending on the context.

You might notice there are a few exceptions: the consonants y and w are not paired with all the vowels, and a few kana are pronounced differently than you would expect. Also, there is one kana that is only a consonant sound - that is ん (n).

The remaining 25 kana take the characters for k, s, t, and h and change the sound by adding a mark, called a dakuten. K becomes g, s becomes z, t becomes d, and h becomes b or p depending on the symbol added.

a i u e 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
h はha ひhi ふfu へhe ほho
h はha ひhi ふfu へhe ほho
a i u e o
g がga ぎgi ぐgu げge ごgo
z ざza じji ずzu ぜze ぞzo
d だda ぢji づzu でde どdo
b ばba びbi ぶbu べbe ぼbo
p ぱpa ぴpi ぷpu ぺpe ぽpo

So long as you remember which letter becomes which, memorizing these after you've learned the base kana becomes pretty easy.

That's Hiragana! Now let's look at Katakana, which you'll see is remarkably similar...

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