Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, Kantō Region, Japan

🇯🇵 Hakone (箱根町) is a town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The town is a popular tourist destination due to its many hot springs and views of Mount Fuji. Hakone is located in the mountains in the far west of the prefecture, on the eastern side of Hakone Pass. Most of the town is within the borders of the volcanically active Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, centered on Lake Ashi.

Economy The economy of Hakone is strongly dominated by the tourist industry. Hakone is noted for its onsen hot spring resorts, which attract both Japanese and international visitors, due to its proximity to the greater Tokyo metropolis and to Mount Fuji. Sights include the volcanically active Ōwakudani geysers and Hakone Shrine on the shore of the lake, as well as the Hakone Botanical Garden of Wetlands. In April the cherry blossoms (sakura) and in autumn the Miscanthus sinensis (susuki) are noted sights.

Hakone has a number of art museums, including the Hakone Open-Air Museum and Pola Museum of Art. Major events include the annual JLPGA CAT Ladies Golf tournament and the Hakone Ekiden, a long distance collegiate foot race, held at the New Year, which runs from Tokyo to Hakone and back over two days, partly in commemoration of the couriers who ran the Tōkaidō road.

One famous hotel in Hakone is the historic Fujiya Hotel in Miyanoshita, which was patronized by noted literary figures, politicians and foreign dignitaries in the Meiji and Taishō and early Shōwa periods. A noted local handicraft is a kind of marquetry called Yosegi.

Hakone is also well-known among anime fans for being the main location in the manga and anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, in which it has been renamed Tokyo-3, and there are numerous attractions related to the franchise offered in the town. In 2017, Hakone was included as one of 88 anime pilgrimage sites for 2018 by the Anime Tourism Association. In 2020, new decorations have been introduced to the city in the anticipation of the release of the final film of the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy.