well im teaching myself japanese right now and...wow they dont have a lot of symbols they use.
the only reason they have more than 200 letters is that they use 2-3 english letters with each symbol
like neko its 2 symbols which are ね こ
first one is ne second is ko.
or if you like dogs same concept inu い ぬ which are the same 2 characteristics in and u

im using this site - http://www.freejapaneselessons.com/
also become a member to listen to the sounds of the words it teaches you kanji (has mor straight lines), hiragana ( more curved lines), and romaji (which uses english letters for the words).

this is my name in japanese characteristics グレゴリー (Gregory) but the pronounce it gu re go ri i (i broke them up into each japanese characteristic symbol)
use this site to see ur name in japanese - http://japanesetranslator.co.uk/your-name-in-japanese/

just copy and paste the sites if you want XD.

konichi wa, Watashi wa Guregorii to iimasu. Yoroshiku o-negai shimasu.(hello, my name is gregory pleased to make your acquaintance.)

i use ranji japanese to type i had to go to site for other things, but i did know that entire phrase. XD

ANYONE THAT LIKES ANIME IS MY FRIEND XD