[Gaberdeen]

Japanese use 4 "alphabets"

They use the roman alphabet - which is your standard a to z - typically called "Romanji" - each japanese word is phonetically represented (written the way it sounds) like

to-kyo
kyo-to
bo-ku
wa-ta-shi

etc etc

Each sound like "to" and "kyo" are represented by Hiragana characters. (which I would display if this baka konpyuta supported it) Hiragana is the primary japanese character alphabet.

There exists also a 3rd alphabet which encompasses foreign words that the Japanese use - such as "coffee" and "heater" - these are represented by "katakana" which is again a phonetic alphabet specifically used for loanwords

the 4th Alphabet is Kanji - Which I think originally was brought to japan by Buddhist monks from China. These characters are a great deal more complex than hiragana or katakana and in certain instances Kanji characters can replace many japanese words built using hiragana.

if you are serious about learning japanese - you need to learn it in the order of;

Hiragana, Katakana and then Kanji - good luck.