think the best way IS to go there (given there's enough money to do so :'( )
not trying to be a sterotype but... i think western people in general gets the adventage that a lot of japanese people still like things that are western (US, Germany, England, etc)
and actually do get a better chance to be able to have close encounter to the languages than a lot of asian-country people in terms of learning a language.

i learned only the first book of Genki and know have been just trying to mindlessly listening to the japan101 podcast + memorizing vocabs. it just doens't improve a lot.

i can pick up a few phrases, words from time to time when watching anime, listening to music or reading manga... guess it's a good sign.

wanna practice. how about we talk japanese in this thread.

koko ha nihongo wo hanashi doudesuka?

(well, i don't think that's it.. but... yes? no? maybe?)