I'm thinking of getting back to studying Japanese, anyone got advice?

Well I studied French in high school and Latin.  The later was of greater value over time even though it is not a spoken language.  I later in life studied Manadrin which I found to be a fairly easy language to learn, but then I have a above average ear which discerns tonal variations.  IF I were to recommend one language over another I would given todays environment highly recommend Mandarin.

I think I can study that after I learn Japanese, the Chinese hanzi and the Japanese kanji are pretty much the exact same alphabet, meaning someone who is literate in a large amount of Kanji will be able to understand Chinese quite well (Although, it doesn't work well in reverse since Japanese is very rarely written exclusively in Kanji).

I find that the best way to learn a language is to first learn the language it's based on. English, German, and Spanish are different languages, but they have similar roots, meaning I can get the gist of what's being said in all three of those languages. You wont get far with rote in a second language, but if you learn the etymologies of the words, things become a thousand times easier.

When I realized how the Kanji worked, my skill in Japanese took a nice leap forward. It's pretty much the same as knowing that Osteo-anything is to do with bones and so on.

... I just realized a brilliant niche, a wiki that details each and every Kanji. You know that would be awesome.

Japanese is a language that is difficult to learn on your own. I would recommend finding a tutor or someone who knows Japanese and can give you hands on experience. Having someone to talk to and write to makes the experience so much easier. Look at local colleges and universities to see if they have Japanese Language classes.

I did look, the idiot was all about rote and none of the students knew what 暁 meant or what On and Kun readings were. XD

Good luck! I've always been fascinated by the language but the only bits I know I learned back in college. One of my roommate's boyfriend was getting ready to go to Japan so we were all learning it a little to help out with the basics. I loved it.