Three kinds of letters

Japanese language has three kinds of letters, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. 48 letters for each Hiragana and the similar for Katakana, and tons for Kanji.

Hiragana writes: あいうえお　かきくけこ　さしすせそ　たちつてと　なにぬねの　はひふへほ　まみむめも　やゆよ　らりるれろ　わゐゑを　ん
We put two little lines on the right for some letters to show another sound, for example がぎぐげご. We also put a little circle for the similar reason, for example ぱぴぷぺぽ. Some letters can be written smaller to show other tone, normally with the combination with the letter prior, such as　さぁ　りぃ.

Japanese normally learn Hiragana first, then Katakana and Kanji.