[Lonewolf]

About learning the language. I've been studying by myself (from books) for about a year now, and even though I know quite a few words and sentences, it's still very hard and it's going very slow. As Nyororin mentioned earlier in this thread (I think) it's a lot easier to learn the language once you're there. If you want to learn it before you go, I think it would be best if you took a Japanese class somewhere. In other words let a Japanese person or someone who can speak the language teach it to you.