Hi there, regarding learning Japanese I personally think learning the speech is more useful first, before learning the 'syllabaries/katakana/hiragana'.
You could if your really are a lot motivated and are prepared to study hard persistently, but I prefer getting some "meat on the bones" first. They say the hardest thing about learning Japanese is learning the writing and reading system. So for many who choose to actually start with that, they may end up getting results very slowly and then get tired and demotivated before they might even give up and do something else. Since working hard without too much to show for it is never fun.
As for myself, I don't like being bored, and thats what I would get for studying tediously for an extended time, doing hard work and memorizing katakana/hiragana/kanji (their "alphabet") and then still hardly being able to understand or talk any Japanese at all. But then again, that does depend on you and how much effort and time you will be using for all of this, and I don't really know what you prefer.
Anyways, I've been listening to two different types of Japanese audio lessons, called: Pimsleur Approach, and Michel Thomas method. I think Michel Thomas method seems best though. Here's an example for you to test out if your not familiar with it already, Pimsleur:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnLRNW5VOLg
So thats you on the picture...I see, but, unfortunately ? :-+ I don't know why. A kinda hot picture of a young girl that appears maybe slightly tipsy/"drunk" when it was taken ...(That or maybe I'm misinterpreting your expression for seeing something in the background you really want to eat, so I'm guessing either drunk or hungry xD)