[BigInJapan]

There are a lot of guys on this board that have much more flying experience than I do, so all of their input is very useful for you...so it's hard for me to improve on any of their advice.

If I were to give you one piece of advice that I think is worthwhile I would say to find an old-timer instructor. Someone who learned to fly long ago; someone who learned/taught in a conventional gear airplane and who knows the old regs and flies by feel.

There are a few reasons I say this:
1: As important as the book knowledge is to remaining safe and passing your check-ride, young instructors with only several hundred hours (trying to build time for the airlines) tend to follow a formula these days and won't deviate from it. Sometimes an FBO's insurance drives an instructor's lesson plans (no spins!!!), but sometimes as technically proficient as these instructors are...they just don't have the experience I would want to have if I were starting over.
2: Find an instructor who will do spins. Power-on/Power-off, clean/dirty. There is an infinite amount of feedback you get from an airplane doing this that will help accelerate your ability to feel the airplane and give you better control of the airplane. FYI: spins are no longer required per FARs (sad)
3: Some of the younger instructors are just too clinical. Learn all of the book stuff front to back, and learn the airplane top to bottom. You'll be a great student if you do...but that won't make you a good pilot. What makes a good pilot is often times feel and intuition.

That would be my $.02. I'm a bit biased though because I learned to fly out of a grass field (for my private) in T-Craft, Cubs, a Champ, and occasionally in a 152 aerobat that my instructor owned. I almost went the airline route after getting about a thousand hours and all the add on ratings and certs but I'm glad I didn't. I still love to fly and can't wait to finish building my Lancair IV-P in the next 6 months.

Hope some of this helps! Fly safe and have fun!