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I lived in Japan for five years and travel their frequently. It's a blast.
Japan is beautiful during cherry blossom season, although I have to warn you that traveling around during Golden Week can be a bitch. Most of the country is on vacation and on the move - crowded trains and sidewalks like you wouldn't believe.
You're lucky that you already have relatives living there, since they should be able to guide you to the tourista areas as well as to less traveled interesting places.
A great value is to buy a Japan Rail Pass and then to hop on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to some of Japan's other large cities. Personally, as a visitor, I found Kyoto (and nearby Nara) to be the most beautiful city.
The temples and other sights there are magnificent. If you are mostly going to be in the Tokyo area, then the Asakusa (Sensoji) and Kamakura temples are good photo op destinations.
Sunday afternoon in Harajuku is pretty fun - you can check out the Meiji shrine, but don't miss the thousands of kids hanging in the park either if you want to get a glimpse of modern Japanese fashion stylistas.
As others mentioned Shibuya (as well as Roppongi) are great fashion and shopping areas, while Akihabara is the place to go for everthing electronic, and yes, Shinjuku is the main sex emporium area for tourists (finding a live sex show is not hard).
You mentioned an Indy race (more likely an F1 race), that should be cool. If it is at Fuji Highlands, then you may be able to experience a hot springs bath while you are there too.
Japan is a very safe place to visit for foreigners. It is mostly American friendly as well - many people speak some English, and most train stations, etc have signs in Romanji (English characters).
There is tons of good info on the net, or you should be able to get a good guide book from your local bookstore.
Finally, take lots of money. Japan is a very expensive country to travel in. You can cut corners here and there, but since you are only going to be there a short time and will likely want to absorb as much as you can, it may get expensive.
Well, have fun and take lots of pictures/video (the Cessna trip should be pretty amazing). Be sure to share your experiences when you return.
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