Replying to New to the park and Japan related

Hi NSers,

I'm like 30sec new new to this forum and quite new to the park so will be asking some newb questions without much knowledge of many NS lingo. There's your warning :). I'll be talking about where I am at this stage, asking for advice on learning park and things related to skiing in Japan.

I'm going to Japan around Dec-Jan again and this time I really want to focus on learning tricks in the park. I started skiing, in Japan, about 2 seasons ago and can now do black runs fine but I'm getting bored after seeing people flying into the air doing tricks and looking so 'free'. A month ago, skiing in New Zealand, I self taught some basics like 50 50 onto boxes, 90degrees onto flat boxes, popping and landing small jumps, skiing switch (not that comfortable with it still), 180 on jumps, almost safety grab (my hand gets to about wheres my ankles are but never quite seem to be able to grab the skis).

I've also tried some 360s but I max out at 270 then wipe out. As much as I would like to cork 1080, my ultimate goal as far as I can see for now is to get to 360 with a mute or tail grab as well as hit some rails which I've been hesitant to try as alot of rails I've seen slant downwards and...narrow....and sharp edges.

I definitely admit, after wiping out on jumps especially when learning 3s and landing on some bones e.g hip bone many times, I have developed some fear of learning new tricks. Would you guys recommend a freestyle instructor? Or wear protective gear? I've heard to go into the park with friends that are skilled so they can teach you their ways but none of my friends can/want to do park and worst of all, they are still stuck in the intermediate runs.

Also in regards to skiing in Japan, I would like to go somewhere with more terrain parks this time. I've been to Nozawa Onsen and Myoko Kogen which aren't really catered to park skiers. I hear Ishiuchi Maruyama/Gala Yuzawa are good as well as Niseko but I won't be going to Hokkaido this time around so somewhere in nagano, niigato is preferred.

I now have my own boots, Salomon Ghost FS 90 but I'm not sure if I will get my own skis yet as I like to ski overseas on a budget and don't want to pay the extra costs at airports. Alot of rental places don't rent out twin tips, let alone centre mounted park skis as people keep wrecking them. I hear theres this place in Tokyo called Kando Cheap (London Sports) is good for discounted ski gear so I guess I will check it out.

Anyways let me know your suggestions/comments in regards to learning park as well as any other skiing in Japan related suggestions/comments. Thanks!