If you can set aside a few weeks of time, you can do an intensive program down in Aichi-ken called Yamasa. http://www.yamasa.org/index.html
I actually went there three times, for 6 weeks each time (they do it in 2 week increments, so you can do from 2 weeks to 2 years). I wrote about it in a Blog at http://www.singlespeed.org/asia2/japan.html (when I went in 2003) and http://peter-japan2005.blogspot.com/ (when I went last fall).
If you just need a start and can deal with listening to tapes/CDs, I used the Pimsleur system and found it to be pretty good. Doesn't teach a lot of grammar (you catch some), but it does give a decent starting point.
thanks for the suggestion, that sounds interesting.
however im looking for somthing that i can do when i need to between jobs etc, which in my case is usually days not weeks at a time. and sometimes hours.
nova really has a good booking system, those lucky english learners!! i guess there isnt anything like that for japanese learners..... is there???