> Is it AHH-sah-HEE or ahh-SAH-high or something else entirely? I don't know, but I heard somewhere that the proper Japanese pronunciation is almost without syllabic emphasis, although your first example seems close to that intent. Nonetheless, I tend to (probably most incorrectly) pronounce Asahi as "ahh-SAH-hee".
I even wonder about the word "Takumar". I always say "TAK-you-mar", but I've often wondered if it really should be something like "TAK-oo-mar" (or even something entirely different) - <g>. However, I think I do pretty well with "PEN-tax" - <g>, despite my Boston/Massachusetts accent. (Actually, we don't have an accent here, at the acknowledged Hub of the Universe, but the rest of the world does - <g>. But I digress...) ;-) Fred
