Page 548 - Basic Japanese

the thematic accent is: on the 3rd from the last syllable,

unless this is the 2nd vowel in a vowel sequence or is a
syllabic consonant—in which cases, on the 4th from the last.
Following this rule, we find the following to be examples of

thematic accent: hóteru ‘hotel,’ tatémono ‘building,’ óngaku

‘music,’ chōkyori-dénwa ‘long-distance telephone (call),’
Nippon-Bōeki-Kabushiki-Gáisha ‘The Japan Trade Company, Inc.’

Just as some Americans say “AUtomobile” and others say
“automoBILE,” or “ICE cream” and “ice CREAM,” there are

words that will have one accent pattern for some speakers
of Standard Japanese and another pattern for other

speakers. For ‘preacher,’ some speakers say bokushi, others
say bókushi. For the masculine ‘I, me,’ older speakers say

bóku, younger speakers say boku.