I am trying to learn Japanese in Japan and it is proving really difficult with Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji alphabets, Hiragana and Katakana somehow ok but Kanji is really tough for me. I would say speaking and understanding Japanese can be challenging as well since there are many different ways of saying the same thing but still this should not be a very different than learning any other language but reading and writing is a whole lot of different story. I assume it is the same for Chinese. Having said that, I see many friends around me who are quite good at Kanji which is the most difficult alphabet (basically originated from China) among three, this means if you are really into it you can do. Learning Japanese and Japan would be very interesting and unique experience, this is for sure.