We're currently finalizing the details of our itinerary for our second Japan trip this coming April. On our first trip, we took the traditional Tokyo -> Hakone -> Kyoto route, and really enjoyed taking a break from the city for a couple of nights in Hakone. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Hakone on that trip, and found it to be a fairly nice balance.

On this trip, we're tentatively planning to start in Osaka and explore the surrounding area, continue to Kyushu to see some highlights of the island, fly to Sapporo, and then finish up with a week in Tokyo.

We'd love to find someplace to spend two or three relaxing nights in the middle of the trip that has a similar vibe to Hakone — something out in nature and with a decent number of relaxing things to do. A small city with nature nearby might be a decent alternative.

Our only major requirement is a nice hotel with Western-style rooms — my cranky knees sadly do not do well on tatami. (Very open to Japanese-style service, so long as there's beds and a comfy chair!) Sadly that rules out a lot of the properties on KI-NRT 's excellent thread. We're willing to splurge a bit, but we don't have Amanemu money.

Ideally, we'd also like something that's reasonably accessible from someplace on our itinerary other than Tokyo, as we want it to be a break in the middle of the trip. (As an example, I had looked at the possibility of doing something in the Fuji Five Lakes region, but it seems like the only way to get there in a reasonable amount of time is on an early morning train from Tokyo.)