Grew up speaking mandarin at home with one parent – is it similar to Japanese?

I am half Chinese and to be frank, I’m not very good at the language, but I can hold a conversation decently. I’m interested in learning Japanese. While looking at some kanji, it seems they have overall the same meanings as the Chinese characters but pronounced completely differently and have (what seems like?) a couple different ways of pronouncing. IDK. The Japanese language is very confusing to me but I’m super interested in it since Chinese and Japanese are kind of similar in some ways. How hard would it be for someone like me to learn it? It almost seems like it would be more difficult than someone not Chinese as the Chinese use their characters differently.