Yeah, kanji in particular are what makes the language difficult to read in the long run. You can actually learn the other two alphabets in a few days -- it takes a few months to become comfortable with them, but it's not too bad overall.

I'm actually going to talk about learning from TV series in one of my posts! It is such a great way to study. And actually one of the things that made me believe in their effectiveness was meeting people in Germany who spoke perfect English and had learned primarily from watching American movies and TV shows :P

Thanks for the comment! I would love to do some posts with pictures when I'm able to return to Japan for a visit!