One of the huge differences of English and Japanese pronunciation is the way to move mouth. When you speak English, you must move and position your lip and tongue quickly and clearly to make articulated pronunciation (So I guess lip speaking in English is easier than in Japanese). This is the difficulty for Japanese who seldom move their mouths when they speak their mother tongue.
A good tip for Japanese English speakers, which I found on the Internet, is to shout the Japanese word for "rabbit" before speaking English. The word usagi is one of rare Japanese words that force speakers to move their mouths clearly. As you can imagine, you must make your lip rounded and smallest to pronounce "u" (as in food and zoo), but, on the contrary, "sa" forces your mouth biggest (as in father), and then, "gi" makes yours flattest (as in eat). So, I shout "u! sa! gi!" several times every morning. While it sounds really stupid, it's very helpful.
Today I discovered another Japanese word that works in the same way, ell. In Japanese, eel is unagi. Grilled unagi is Japanese favorite. It's often eaten during hot summer because unagi is rich in protein, calcium, vitamin A and E, and it's said to give people stamina. I haven't have it so far in the US because frozen unagi sold in Asian supermarkets look not so fresh, and therefore, not to contain enough stamina. Anyway, I will say unagi tomorrow morning.
By the way, the French people, who eat usagi, also have the difficulity to pronounce correct American English as shown the video below. Check it! I would like to buy a damburger.
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