I would recommend trying to learn how to write and read while learning that language. Hiragana is the first I learned, and it was really easy.
I use this site:
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/reada...p?article_id=2
At first I started out slow, only learning a few a day, but I got tired of that quickly. I just buckled myself down, found a good, work-less day to go without sleep, and said "Ok, tonight, I am going to learn how to read Hiragana no matter what."
It worked, actually. I learned how to read 37 characters in Hiragana in one night. The other 10 I knew. Course, then comes the ten-tens and the small tsu, but those are easy enough to remember. Its quite exciting to go around, reading things in the back of the restaurant I work in(I work in a Japanese resturant, everything is printed in Hiragana/Kanji and english). I may not understand much of it, but its still fun. Until I get told to get back to work.
I can read all of it, but I can only write half. I'll need to study a bit more, when I find the willpower.
Another great tool is this:
Flashcard Suite
I just found out about this, seems better than having all those flashcards scattered throughout my room.