Teaching Myself Japanese

Learning Japanese is harder for me than learning Chinese. The multiple writing systems confuse me because I don't really understand why they have hiragana. Why didn't they just keep kanji and add katakana for foreign words/pronunciations? Of course all language questions like this are rhetorical, but I had an easier time learning Chinese tones. I never thought I'd say this (actually, that's a lie, because I like school) but I wish I had a Duke class here in Japan to teach me Japanese...some formal instruction and quizzes, dare I say it, would do me some good. Instead I'm creating more flashcards than I can carry...by the end of the year I'll have a heya full of abused index cards.