Call me crazy but I started learning Japanese and it is much easyer than you might think You can get "Ningho de Dooso" for 10 Euro. This is rather cheap I think...
Through that course you can learn both the Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji scripts and the bases of the Language. This isn't really more difficult than other Languages (you learn the signs as Vocabulary). There are also Casettes and CDs, yes even Training Software for low Budget
Some examples to show how Japanese works:
Stefan dezu = I'm Stefan... normal and easy sentence.
Stefan dezu-ka = Am I Stefan??? The Particel KA turns a sentece into a question.
1 Doitzugin, 5 Doitzugin = 1 German, 5 Germans... they don't have Singular or Pural.
At least this is funny I say... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif