Hi! I used the Heisig method. His book is called Remembering the Kanji. It brought me from not knowing any kanji (the feeling that everything is just random strokes, that I can't remember anything etc.) to being able to write them. You don't learn any readings, only English keywords. E.g. night = 夜 The main idea is that after completing the book you function like a Chinese person: you know the stroke order and meaning but not how it is pronounced in Japanese. It is known that the Chinese learn Japanese very fast, because they are familiar with the kanji already. For example, I already knew that "yoru" is night, but had no idea how it's written. Now I learned it, so it is easy to add other readings so I can learn compounds more easily without worrying that I won't remember how the kanji looks. The main technique of the book is to use "primitives", small elements of which the kanji are made of. You learn them and put them together in a kanji using your imagination - you use your imaginative memory. For me, this book was great - I feared that I can never remember any kanji, but it turned out otherwise and it was fun. It is very important that you review the kanji you learned every day. I use this website for SRS flashcards (it is free): http://kanji.koohii.com The users also post very funny stories which can help a lot. I think it's worth a try, but like any method it does not work for everyone. :)

こんにちは、Boaz さん。I'd like to help anybody who challenges learning Japanese language even native speakers like me sometimes think difficult ;) I agree with Yana! If you can take some time to learn Kanji characters, I believe this helps. All kanjis are from ancient drawings. http://nihongo-e-na.com/eng/hint/id332_1.html You'll see remembering kanji with a picture could be less stressful ;)

One word: Skritter