I think if you’re truly starting from zero- the unanimous first step you need to take is familiarization with Hiragana and Katakana, as you need that to learn any vocabulary, any Kanji, and any grammar points. It may sound daunting to learn a new writing system, letalone two of them, but believe me when I say it’s quite simple and intuitive. If you put in a consistent and modest effort, you can become functionally familiar with them in ~one week each.
Duolingo has many flaws for extended learning in my opinion, but as a tool to learn Hiragana and Katakana I find it pretty brilliant. It’ll guide you fully with practice/examples writing, typing, pronunciation, and stringing together in example words. If you want an accesible place to start- that is my suggestion, though you can find plenty of resources/charts/etc all over the internet too.
If you want some time with the most basic of basics in terms of vocabulary and grammar, Duolingo can still carry you a bit further if you want to get a grip on expectations for learning. Before long, though, here at WaniKani is a wonderful place to learn Kanji and some attached vocabulary- and this list of mine might serve you well for resource exploration. Definitely want to shoutout jisho.org in terms of dictionaries since it’s so thorough and if you want to practice physical writing when you learn Kanji it’s a huge help. I would be happy to answer more questions if you have them, too.
You shouldn’t need anything special in terms of pens or writing materials, either. I use bulk-bought notecards I got on amazon, regular notebook paper, and standard pens for everything I do physically, and I am also a pretty visual/tangible learner like yourself.
Take it slow and enjoy the process, you got a long road ahead of you but it’s a very rewarding one. Happy to have you here with us.