I met again with my instructor (Makoto) today. We've settled on twice-weekly sessions, on Thursdays and Saturdays. The dude moves fast. I can't tell if that's just his pace, or if he's just heavily banking on the fact that I took a little Japanese a decade ago. Our sessions are only an hour long, but in that space we cover grammar, vocabulary, a bit of writing (which I'll likely take on as an at-home exercise) and speaking. The last of those is the hardest to do at home, so I find it the most valuable.
He methods are sparse. Armed with nothing but a 4-Color Bic pen and a yellow legal pad, he dives right in each time, relying primarily on spoken explanation, but using these tools to emphasize or clarify a point, often only writing in kana and kanji, both of which I've nearly completely forgotten. So beyond the unfamiliarity of the new concepts, I also find myself struggling to keep up with his explanations.
But he's also patient, and seems to know when to nudge me along and when to let me struggle.
All in all, a good session. He suggested we find a text that I can use at home, so we can focus on grammar, pronunciation, and conversation in person. We settled on the text UW uses for its Japanese courses, as he owns a copy and can thus help out via email. In addition, I've ordered a copy of my favorite dictionary, a text on how to remember kanji, and a kana workbook.
Go big or go home, right?