town, Kanagawa ken (prefecture), south-central Honshu, Japan. It lies on the southern bank of Lake Ashino, in the caldera of the extinct volcano Mount Hakone. The town, a post station during the Tokugawa period (1603–1868), is now the tourist base for Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. A favourite hot-spring and sight-seeing resort, Hakone is well served by roads and railways. Pop. (2000) 15,829.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.