There are two popular approaches for learning Japanese. One is using romaji, with everything written in romanised words, which means you don't have to remember the Japanese characters. This seems to be popular among the learners who are English speakers.
Another approach, which is popular in Hong Kong, starts with Kana (Hiragana and Katakana). With this approach, learners have to remember all the Japanese characters before they learn to use the language.
There are both pros and cons with each of the approaches. Many learners who are not good at remembering things often find the Kana approach stressful. Even if some manage to remember the words, many can't see why they're remembering, as the learning is mainly about learning how to write the characters and the related words correctly, leaving little room for communication.
The romaji approach, on the other hand, is often very communicative. The learners learn the phrases and do simple conversations easily as the text now looks very much like English, except a few unique sounds of Japanese like "tsu" and "hu". However, when can the learners read authentic Japanese materials? They will still have to learn the characters and kanji (Chinese words) later.
To me, a combination of both approaches should be a good way for learners in Hong Kong, as we are not entirely foreign to both English and Chinese. We can introduce kana like 2-3 rows in each lesson while teaching some simple conversation and expressions with the help of romaji, including self-introduction, numbers, classroom instructions and some greetings in Japanese.
With the mixed approach, students will still get to learn the kana (maybe at a slightly slower pace that they can handle) but they can also learn how to use the language for communicating with others. This does not only make learning more dynamic and interesting, but also helps students develop listening and speaking skills, apart from the initial kana reading and writing.
After a few lessons, the beginners will find themselves being able to produce not only the written kana but also know how to say something in Japanese including the numbers (very important if they enjoy shopping), self-introduction (good for making new friends) and responding to simple instructions like "mouichido" (once more), "wakarimasuka?" (do you understand?) and so on (help them get used to lessons conducting only in Japanese later).
