The birds are singing, the wind is rustling in the forest and sunlight is filtering through the treetops. So far, so idyllic — until my 3-year-old releases a primal bird-scattering shriek as she thrusts an axe into a piece of wood.
This may sound like a scene from a horror movie. The reality, however, is a little less scary. My daughter's dangerous weapon-wielding belies the fact we in the heart of one of Japan's most intriguing new hotels, Hoshinoya Fuji, the latest addition to Japan's leading design hotel group Hoshino Resorts. It is the fourth member of the high-end Hoshinoya collection, with sister hotels already open in Karuizawa, Kyoto and Okinawa.
The concept is simple: The new hotel proclaims itself to be "Japan's first glamping resort," referencing an increasingly popular buzzword used to describe a luxury take on conventional camping.