I'm finding many similarities between te reo Maori and Japanese. Both languages use what are in effect syllabaries, not alphabets. The five vowel sounds are identical, and also their long forms. The 'r' sound is 'clicked' rather than rolled. Adjectives can be used as verbs. Plural forms of nouns don't usually exist. The verb form does not conjugate in Maori; rather small participles are added in front of and after the word (in the case of Japanese they appear to be added to the verb, but in print consist several hiragana following kanji. Both languages existed in their spoken form for a long period and had to borrow the written conventions from elsewhere (Chinese for Japan, English for te reo Maori).
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