Rest and relax in Japan

I head to the land of Mt. Fuji in mid-november to unwind and spend time with family. The vacation will last 7 nights and I think we will have plenty of time.

Even though I have been to Japan twice, once to visit the famous Toyota factories to see how they efficienctly produce cars using LEAN processes, and the other to see how hospitals and companies run their supply chains; it almost appears to me that I will be visiting Japan for the first time. It is actually quite different when you visit a country or a city while on business trip.

What I can vividly remember about Japan are how everything is so organised, the sense of system and processes, the extremely punctual trains, the tastefully wrapped items that are too nice to even open and how polite and courteous the people are... One of my favourite so far has been the visit to the stationery shop, all 7 stories of it at the heart of Tokyo. This was certainly a dream come true for a stationery lover like yours truely!

The first 4 nights will be at Tokyo Disney. I figure 2 days at Disneyland and 2 days at Disney Sea. The beauty of this segment of the travel has to be that we are staying right smack within disneyland, where the magic will touch every aspects of what we do... see even the adults are excited. There is something about Disney that is able to create a new experience everytime one visit the resort.

On the 5th day, the plan is to head out to Hakone to take in the view of the famous Mt Fuji. Thinking of staying in a traditional japanese type hotel (i heard something like Ryokan) with the option to sleep on tatami, be served meals in traditional japanese settings and perhaps enjoy a hot spa (onsen?). Still seraching the web on the most exotic place to stay...suggestions welcomed.
Our 6th and 7th night will be spent in the heart of Tokyo. This is where we will see cosmopolitan Japan and take in Ginza, and do a couple of visits to shrines and perhaps shopping.

All of us need to make time to rest and relax. Even machines need to regular downtime for tuning and maintenance. I will do so, but this time with perhaps the blackberry at home. I am really looking forward to a proper vacation with my wife and 2 daughters and hope that it will be a great experience where we can remember for a long time to come.