You should start with hiragana and katakana. these are present in practically all modern learning material, and opens a world of japanese learning you won’t have accessible to you unless you learn these two.. Only by learning each alphabet will you be able to fully learn japanese and understand japanese newspapers, billboards, street signs, menus and documents. but don t abandon your desires to learn japanese; hiragana and katakana rely on phonetic sounds, so once you memorize them, you ll be well on your way to understanding japanese.. Before you learn an alphabet try to learn the basic 46 sounds. once you do that, the first alphabet you should learn is hiragana go to google and type in "learn hiragana and katakana" there should be link (i would put the link here but im on my phone).
2) the premise that you shouldn't learn japanese if you're only a tourist could be extrapolated to say if you are a tourist anywhere you never have to learn the language. not quite. yes there's signage, and helpful things in tokyo but venture outside of that bubble and things go downhill very quickly.. However, after you start learning some japanese characters, you’ll be surprised by how easy they are to remember with regular practice. many people start out with the hirigana alphabet first, so consider learning these characters initially if you plan to be self-taught.. There are no (good) japanese textbooks or learning resources that don't require you to know hiragana. in essence, it's the first step to learn japanese. many classes and individuals spend months learning hiragana. this is too long. you should be able to learn everything in a couple days. a week, tops..
