yah I started learning on my own back in jr. High by buying books and lesson guides. Then in high school I took a few classes.
I spent some time in Japan with my friend who teaches english there.
I mainly learned Japanese at the start so I could watch anime and read manga without waiting for it to be translated.
Now mind you I am not an expert on Kanji but I can read a newspaper with very few problems.
The thing I hate is the dialect and how it screwed me up the first time I went to Japan.

