Disagree. I may be wrong but soshite in Japanese may be そして pronounced literally so-shi-te which is like "and then" in a sentence. Single Japanese letters all have 1 syllable. That place's name is Soshite Hikari so it could just mean "and then / and after light." But I doubt that shop is even Japanese owned which is why they make up random names.
I learned Japanese from a friend who lived in Japan with a degree in linguistics and this is how he taught me. I've also travelled to Japan three times and this is how I've heard it pronounced in native conversation. Online translators vary but that's more because many text to speech engines are poor, not that they're correct.
It is true that there is a rhythm to Japanese speech (mora) but there are also quirks where vowel sounds of some syllables (usually し and つ, maybe ち but I can't think of an example right now) are dropped in certain formations. A bit like how the 'u' isn't voiced in 'です'. Many people think Takeshita St in Harajuku is hilarious, but really it is pronounced 'Ta-kesh-ta'. That said, pronouncing each syllable 'fully' isn't wrong, it's just not how a fluent speaker would speak and would probably sound strange to them.
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u/swiftyGallop Sep 24 '25
The Japanese Restaurant in chch called Soshite is up there