Learn how to write japanese

Hi
I will be going to Japan for the 5th time and each time wished I had learnt Japanese but never got around to it.
This time I wonder if at least could learn how to write or recognize the japanese characters so at least I know what I am ordering or buying in shops?
Do I learn all 3 hiragana and katakana, and kanji? Will this be enough to translate simple items in shops/ on menus?
Thanks for any suggestion!
cheers

Hiragana and Katakana are definitely a must, in my opinion. They're both things you can learn easily in a short amount of time. W

Oops my post got cut off!
Anyways, with hiragana and katakana you can atleast begin to read basic japanese and furigana when it's available.

Learning basic kanji is definitely good too if you're not ready to dive into the sea of kanji that Japanese offers but I still reccomend it anyways ;0 good luck!

Indeed, learning on how to read Hiragana and Katakana is quite useful because many words you see in public are written in those systems.
Do not worry if you cannot write Katakana/Hiragana.
As for Kanji, pick the top 50 kanji or so and learn the meaning of it. Again, even if you cannot write the kanji, knowing it's meaning is very useful.
Many signs in Tokyo do have english translations on it, so I do not think you will get in trouble with public transportation or so. (I remember my first time in Ueno station when the price/place sign had no ROMAJI, only kanji. I basically ended up comparing kanji of the guide book with the kanji written there.)
As for menu's, I do notice that there are many restaurants that only have Kanji written on it. However, many restaurants have their foods displayed in the window (as you probably would know).
Also normal shops use kana or kanji, but this really depends on the shop I think.
So in short;
It is impossible to learn all jouyou Kanji within short time, but learning to read (not even to write) hiragana/katakana is very useful. Stick with knowing the meaning of the 50 Kanji at maximum and you will be surprised with how much you can understand when looking at signs at the street for example. (Google for 'learning Kanji' or something and you are bound to find some list with Kanji)
Where do you plan to go to? Outside big cities like Tokyo/Osaka and the likes, many place names for example are written in only Kanji (and hiragana if you are lucky), so that is another reason for you to learn the Kana's.
Nowadays being able to write Kanji is becoming less important as almost everyone has a computer/cellphone that can convert to kanji.
If I were you, I would learn every day some new hiragana/katana (like 10 hiragana each day, and after learning hiragana, 10 katakana) everyday and you will know both systems within a week.
Many of the basic kanji kan be easily remembered by using graphical resemblance of the kanji with the actual object. Like many books state that 日 looks like the sun, 月 looks like moon and everyone can count to 3 in Japanese (even if they do not know it), respectively 一、二、三.
左、右 respectively for left and right. 右 has 口 (mouth/entrance) in it, and if you are right-handed you put food in your mouth with your right hand. Use such things to remember Kanji more easily.
One of the things I regret having done is not to really study hiragana/katakana more seriously before I first visited Japan. (Having studied Japanese culture and language at culture, I had to learn kana's so I had no choose, but please plan to learn .. number of kana everyday and stick to that!)

Small mistake; Having studied Japanese culture and language at university..
Sorry it is very late over here, so please forgive me.