Yes, the written Japanese language will use a combination of Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. I would begin with learning Hiragana. It's a pretty basic phonetic chart, with some a set of accent marks that change certain sounds and also a way to apply a new sound to an old one. It's pretty simple once you get used to it. Assuming you are familiar with Romaji pronunciation I'll show how some of the transitions are made. ひ (hi) has two possible accents to change the sound. び　(bi) and ぴ (pi), these are used because 'hi' is very close to 'bi' and 'pi.' The entire set of the "h" sound Hiragana follow the same pattern. は (ha), ば (ba), ぱ (pa), etc. The other accents are similar, for instance た (ta) -> だ (da). The second chart you see is a way to change the vowel sound of an (i) hiragana to ya, yu, or yo sound. This is recognized by the small (usually 1/4th size) や, ゆ, or よ. Example: ひ (hi), ひゃ (hya), ひゅ (hyu), ひょ (hyo) It takes some practice to get familiar with them, but once you're used to it it becomes natural. Hiragana is easiest to begin with as most textbooks will feature mostly hiragana until you begin learning Kanji. Katakana should come second and may take a little more work to remember as it's not used quite as often in the beginning. Once you've got those two down it's time to start learning Kanji and the fun begins. ^^ Good luck.