Hmm I don't think they should have gotten rid of kanji, or really simplified the writing system. It's actually much easier to read with kanji. I can feel myself read slower and take longer to understand when it's only in kana. Even worse when it's romaji. It really is so much better with kanji. I know as someone who's looking at this huge list of things they'd have to know it seems daunting, but the writing system works very well for the language.

As for whether or not it's onyomi or kunyomi, there's a couple of general rules. In compound words it's more likely to be onyomi. If it's simple verbs and phrases like taberu or something, it's usually kunyomi. Anyway, like I said before, it's usually a waste to learn kunyomi and onyomi outside of words. Just learn new words, what they sound like, and what the kanji is for them. While some kanji have 7 readings, most have 1 or 2. 

I also wouldn't say that it repulses new learners. In fact, it's one of the reasons I love the language. I love learning the writing system, I find it very interesting and fun. It's very beautiful. 

Yeah, it's possible. We all learnt our mother tongue without knowing how to write it. However remember that you won't be able to read or write anything, which is fairly important in this era when we all communicate via messages on the net. And you'll probably have a tough time trying to understand the signs if you go to Japan.

Moreover, knowing kanji helps you figure out how the language works, and by knowing the kanji that compose a word you can guess its meaning (and it'll be super easy to remember it if you already know the reading for such kanji).

So yeah, it's possible to learn Japanese without learning kanji, but I think that the effort and time invested into learning it definitely pays off.

As people have already said, you can learn how to speak the language without writing it.

But honestly, that seems a silly to me! It totally cuts out an entire communication method!

Kanji isn't nearly as hard as you think it is.

Firstly, you only have to learn about 1500-2000 kanji to be able to fully read a Japanese newspaper. Also keep in mind, that 300 of those 2000 kanji are used 70-80% of the time.

Yes, it takes time and patience, but it's not difficult to learn. There are a lot of other things about the language that are way harder.

In fact, I'm a lot better at reading and writing(Well...Typing. Lol) Japanese then I am at speaking it.

For example, just today my tutor said the word "かんどう” to me.

I was confused, I couldn't remember what "Kandou" meant.

But once she typed it out as 感動 (Emotionally moved), I instantly understood the word.

Personally I rely too much on kanji! I need to improve my listening and speaking skills a lot more.

But the point is, it's up to you to learn the language how you want.

But learning kanji isn't an impossible task. After you learn the first 100, you begin to see patterns and it starts becoming even easier to learn! Reading Japanese is really a wonderful thing, so I think it'd be a shame to not learn it. Especially when it helps with learning other aspects of the Japanese language.

Ah, sorry. Well, that also does not make sense. Unlike Chinese, Japanese is very heavy in conjugations. There would be even more readings for each character if they only used kanji. You can't write Japanese in kanji only. It's possible in kana only, but difficult to read. I still think the current system makes the most sense. 

A very long time ago there was a way to write in kanji only, using certain symbols for their sounds instead of meaning. Eventually hiragana developed too, since that kanji method was very complicated. I'm not really sure how random symbols that represent sounds are bad anyway. That's exactly what the Roman alphabet is.

If you think it's possible, it is possible. What's great about learning languages is that it could totally depend on you how and what to study. There are so many waya to learn languages.
So if you don't want to waste your time, you don't have to. It's about the way you get them. Some people find interesting in learning kana, kanji, etc... and others don't. Although I presume there must be a limit on understanding if you don't know kanji. But you can study them to understand whenever you want to. If you don't care them at all and just wanna speak, you can.

Even some Japanese might feel why our ancestors didn't abandon katakana. Well, that's how Japanese language is consisted. Can't be helped. But that doesn't mean that you "have to" study them.

It's all up to you in a good way :) 

Good luck!