So, I met my opposite number from the US this week. Was a bit nervous about whether we'd get on, then I found out he was from Glasgow, so I relaxed a lot. Seems like a thoroughly likeable guy.
Interestingly, he's lived in Japan before — for a year in Kyoto — so he was able to give me some pointers. One of which was this: learn the hiragana and katakana alphabets over the kanji.
With that in mind, I'm going to include a character each day to learn.
May as well start at the start, then:
which is "a".