is there an i sound in japanese like bike?
 

This may be an odd question, but I am here at work and a coworker told me there is no i sound (as in bike or bright) in Japanese. He lived in Japan for awhile when he was in the military in the early 90s. Thanks!

the answer: yes ^_^
 

the closest sound to "i" as in "bike" or "right" is "ai". Examples include the english loanwords "raion" (lion) and and "baiku" (motorbike).

so looks the letters "ai" would be the sound for i (bike) in romaji

all japanese sounds involve either an a,i,u,e or o except for one which is 'n'
all the 'i' sound the 'i' sounds like how we call the letter E, so 'ee' so for bike you have ba - i - ku (バイク) or ba-ee-ku but as you say this with speed the sounds kind of merge together a little bit.

okay. i understand what my coworker was saying now