What you need
This guide assumes that you know the hiragana and katakana and that you're studying basic japanese vocabulary. The most efficient way to learn the kana (hiragana+katakana) is to drill it through brute force. You can use DJT Kana for this. You can also learn by exposure. I did both.
This guide assumes that you know what writing systems japanese uses, and that you know what japanese text looks like, and what Kanji are.
This guide assumes that you're learning vocabulary outside this guide. I can't teach you enough words to be useful without getting in the way of the grammar.
If you need more guidance for things other than grammar, try the DJT Guide.
Check this: 置 How does this character render? If it's missing the vertical line on the left side, your browser is using chinese fonts for japanese. You may need to install japanese fonts or change some system language settings.
