If you're determined to learn and become fluent in Japanese, you need to be determined to start offline language classes. Believe me, it may seem as a "mehhh..." and "expensive" option at first, but it's the most rational thing you could do if you're truly dedicated to the language. Japanese isn't a hard language, it's just very different, which makes it appear "hard". Before starting classes, learn hiragana and katakana (and maybe few basic kanji) to let you appear at the top of your class, as it was for me. Once you'll earn your smarty-pants position, you'll start competing with your classmates in order to maintain your status - and this will prove very efficient for your studies.

Everyone learns differently, and if you haven't yet found out what works best for you, I'll guess you just have to try things and see how it goes. :-) Don't be afraid to try something else if you feel you're getting stuck. Like harbinger297, I can also recommend Anki. The Anki community offers shared decks for vocabulary with sound recordings by native speakers; that's really helpful. The one site on the net that helped me most is http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar. If you read all of it, slowly step by step as you study, you probably can't go wrong. Here are some other links that I found useful: http://www.italki.com/groups/1810/topic/37478.htm When I began to learn Japanese, I first learned Katakana, then Hiragana. Then I started to learn vocabulary and grammar, and tried to read some texts. I found out the hard way that I really need to use the letters or I'll forget them (I promptly forgot most Katakana, because Hiragana are used more often, and they only came slowly back when I encountered more foreign loanwords in my vocabulary). Also, I found I really need to know Kanji to remember the "Chinese-style" words properly, otherwise they all just look the same and I'll mix them up. And I need to know several real words that use a certain Kanji, otherwise it's hard to remember. These are just my experiences, maybe yours will be different. Do a little bit everyday. Do especially the parts you find difficult, but don't forget you're learning to enjoy yourself, and also do the parts that are fun and that made you want to learn Japanese in the first place.

I am also learning Japanese. Naturally the first place is to start with hiragana and katakana. There is a lot of resources on the net you can use. I personally found anki very helpful (it's basically a flashcard program): http://ankisrs.net/ It is free and very useful. I personally found that there is no point worrying about specific words and phrases until hiragana and katakana are second nature to you. Learning hiragana will allow you to get better pronunciation for kanji later on (or any word), as the Japanese have a phonetic alphabet. You know the hiragana, and you can sound out most kanji if they have a hiragana reading too. Aside from that, just immerse yourself in Japanese things I think. So movies, songs, anything like that. It does help to have a study partner, even just someone to chat to online. Also given that (I'm assuming) you live in an English speaking country, you should try and practice everyday even if it gets tiring or boring, it's a lot harder to ingrain it mentally when you don't use it day to day, so you have to make sure you do actually use it everyday. Use it or lose it. Having clear set goals as-well will help. If you know exactly why you want to learn it, it will help when it gets tough (it does get tough at times). Usually the people who try to learn it on a whim or because it's cool or something don't really last long, so make sure you know your reasons and are 100% in it. :) 1 more thing: avoid romaji at all costs. It teaches bad habits and isn't real Japanese and from another learner; it really can mess with your learning if you read too much romaji. That would be my advice anyway, just personal advice. Everyone is different.

Good luck on your learning!