Kana, Kanji Questions

Hello, so I recently moved to Japan and I'm working on learning the language. It is apparently essential to learn Kana and Kanji at some point. I drew the vowels in Kiragana and I know I can learn the two sets of symbols that make up Kana. I just am having a hard time clarifying the utility of these symbols (kana) as contrasted to Kanji. I've researched a bit (a few hours yesterday) the usage of both and I sort of have a vague understanding of their respective places in the language but does anyone with some experience have a useful resource for elucidating their meaningfulness? I've been searching, so, no I'm not lazy, I just would rather hear from someone more knowledgable of Japanese culture rather than check out About.com or something. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, and Happy New Years

Also, one more thing, in regards to Verb conjugation, is this true that there are no modifications of the verb that account for gender, plurality, and person (first, second, third?) I have a hard time wrapping my head around the concept since I'm only familiar with studying languages that require inflictions for persons (latin, Germanic, etc.)

No one has replied to this yet? Well, I guess I'll try my best, then. I kind of don't understand the question, though. Maybe that's why nobody has replied. Well, it's essential to learn kana and kanji because they're the characters used in Japanese. And you can't learn the language without being able to read and write kana and kanji. It's like not being able to read or write the alphabet. Without them you won't get anywhere with learning the language, because almost all sentences are written in kana and kanji. So, hiragana is used for original Japanese words, but is also used if the kanji is too difficult to read (like, for children who are still learning kanji). Kanji are the characters derived from Chinese, and katakana is used for foreign words like computer, (コンピュータ), guitar (ギター), that sort of thing. It's also used for onomatopoeia and can be used for emphasis, like using italics in English. I hope this answered your question?