Japanese courses

Here are some links where you can find courses about the language and the characters:

There is a basic ongoing course at the UniLang Virtual school of languages in the forum.
http://www.joyo96.org To learn almost all characters.
http://www.japanese-online.com To learn the language and all kana.
http://www.nihongoresources.com For a great deal of Japanese language related resources.
http://www.pikkle.com/jgram/index.php has an interesting forum-based Japanese grammar discussion.
http://japanese.about.com has a large introductory material (including grammar and writing), forums, quizes and articles related to culture.
http://www.timwerx.net/language/index.htm has a few lessons, including a very rich explanation on verbs and deflections