Hello. I am also learning Japanese and so I will share the tidbits of info I have gathered. If you google, " nihongo dekimasu" you will find a neat blogsite with tremendous materials to learn Japanese at all levels ( ebooks, video, cd, songs, magazine etc). To a beginner I'd suggest a tv course called "let's learn Japanese- basic I" you can find it on that site or you can also find some of the lessons on YouTube and veoh. I am not affiliated with that site, and I hope they don't mind me mentioning them here. As for books ( with audio) I'd suggest Genki I among others. Frankly as books are concerned it's a matter of personal preference. Also, I would advise learning Hiragana and Katakana. In the TV course I mentioned you are progressively introduced to kana characters, but you may want to pick up some extra book on Kana. I'd also suggest to watch some tv shows or drama concurrently with your lessons (if you're not already). It will help you with the listening part, and I can assure it's pretty exciting once you start recognizing a sentence or a word. It will keep you motivated! Lastly, italki is great place to connect with Japanese speakers. Personally, I'm still a bit new here but having someone correct my entries/ attempt at Japanese    is simply awesome ! Alright, I wish you the best in your learning journey.