The difference between Japanese hiragana and katakana mainly lies in writing and usage. The specific differences are as follows:

1. The pronunciation of both is the same. Hiragana is used to write native words, while katakana is used to write foreign words.

2. Japanese letters are called kana, and each kana represents a syllable. There are two ways of writing kana, namely hiragana and katakana. Hiragana is used to write native vocabulary in general, while katakana is used to express foreign words and special vocabulary.