Hi folks! I just joined this forum and asked questions about equipments and found this thread.
Hakone is one of the most popular places people go, especially people from Tokyo.
It's very close from Tokyo(Shinjuku station--take Romance Car Train to Hakone) so it's a little get away for most people living in the city.
Yes, I'm from Japan : )
Hakone Chokoku no mori Musuem is very popular too. It's a sculpture museum park.
http://www.hakone-oam.or.jp/eng/Looks like they call it the Hakone Open Air Museum in English. (Chokoku = sculputure)
If you get a chance, stay in one of the Ryokan, a Japanese style hotel to get the true Japanese feeling and try the Onsen(hot spring)
usually the Ryokan in Hakone will have one or there may be a public one.
Also, visiting Kamakura is another good way to explore this area of Japan.
If you are visiting Tokyo(when I say Tokyo, it means Tokyo prefecture and not Tokyo Station), other places I recommend is Sakuragicho(Yokohama; sea port town 20-30 mins south of Tokyo) to take nice photos of skyscrapers and ships. Good for night shots too. In Tokyo, Shinjuku is another great places to visit.
Now, every Japanese knows YODOBASHI Camera store. It's a HUGE camera shop and the one in Shinjuku (west entrance) is the head store. Shinjuku is where the Romance Car Express train leaves for Hakone.
You'll see tons of camera equipments. They have Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara and and other cities(city, station) too but the one in Shinjuku outside the west exit is huge. They have some in East exit too. I would definitely visit Yodobashi Camera or Bic Camera or Camera no Sakuraya store if you are in Shinjuku. It's a huge electronic store and if you think some of the big camera superstore in New York is huge, you got to go check this store out.
There's also a counter where they sell electronics for travelers. The things you buy here have international warranty.
Sorry, I went and talked about things other than Hakone but hope you all have a great time in Japan.
Also, you don't need to tip in Japan and many people uses cash but major credit card will work but sometimes not all taxi will take credit cards.