I'm in the infant stages of planning my trip to Japan. I plan on at least 2 weeks (probably more). I'm 52. Aside from a few of the cliche tourist things I'll probably do for my first time there...I'd like to visit Hokaido (i have a friend of a friend who lives there, so I'm sure he will guide me a bit). I'm looking for a nice balance of experiences between locals and visitors. I'm also looking for a mix of outdoors hiking type excursions but also the comfort of nice restaurants and hotels. I know I'm being very general and vague and that's because I'm not 100% sure where I want my focus. What I do love is to meet people and spend some of my time learning about them and their lives. Doesn't have to all be Hokaido but it's one of my definite stops.

Sorry for the awful question. I'm in the fact finding/research stage.