First of all, how fast is 'asap'? It's not something you can do just to 'get it out of the way'. Like any language, it requires lots of constant practice, and not just reading and listening, but speaking and composition as well. It's also a very culturally oriented language, wherein different social situations call for different vocabulary and politeness terms. It's sort of like learning three languages in one. If this doesn't sound to intimidating, then Japanese in for you!
The best thing you can do is take some sort of class; there's bound to be classes you can take at a college or community center where you live. If not, there's plenty of instructional books to review. The one I'm using at school, and find that it works really well for getting introduced to the language, is Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese. Very clear explanations, integrates reading, writing, and listening pretty well, and has lots of pictures (can't go wrong with
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...rojiromiru.jpg)
A few online supplements I use are:
Tae Kim's Japanese guide to Japanese grammar Japanese Kanji Dictionary EUdict | European dictionary
I also recommend checking out Tofugu on youtube. He has some pretty good insight into the Japanese culture, as well as on people who want to learn Japanese asap, such as yourself. His main account 'Koichiben' is entirely in Japanese, but if you can understand him he's pretty valuable for cultural knowledge.
Hope this helps at all, best of luck in your endeavors!