Places axolotl Wants to Go

A real-life replica of a home from Hayao Miyazaki's beloved movie "My Neighbor Totoro."

As the aging humans of this Japanese village die off one local artisan is replacing them with eerie homonculi.

The ruins of Japan’s premier water brothel.

An oddly touching memorial to a little-remembered nuclear tragedy.

A calico cat named Tama was the wildly popular Super Station Master at this train stop in southeast Japan.

The 43-mile route crosses through six islands with gorgeous views of the Seto Inland Sea.

Unusual hexagonal rocks formed by cooling lava named for their resemblance to traditional Japanese tatami mats.

The Buddhist temples of Yamadera, built into a mountain side, feature a viewing deck with sweeping views.

A steaming, boiling hellscape sources Hokkaido's thermal baths.

Shells collected from over a hundred different countries line the walls, floors and ceilings of this fantasy museum.

A deserted island in southwest Japan that once sheltered persecuted Christians.

After being lost for decades, this striking mural depicting the atomic bomb covers the wall of a busy Tokyo metro station.

A museum in Hokkaido is housed in a former high school. On its grounds a marker shares the awakening of a man who longs to be reunited with his soulmate in the fictional world of Kcymaerxthaere.

The cemetery houses the remains of Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, one of Japan's most famous novelists.

An unexpected curiosity cabinet hidden within a department store in the Japan Post tower.

The statue's head is one of the few fragments of the original Urakami Cathedral to survive the atomic bomb.

This adorable birdlike police box is designed based on a play on words.

The tallest bronze seated statue of the Buddha in Japan.

This sawtooth mountain range still bears the strangely lovely marks of its history as a medieval quarry.

We heard you like volcanoes so we put a volcano in your volcano so you can die for sure...

Serving you alcohol with a side of insanity. Also, costumes!

Abandoned Japanese ghost town gives a glimpse into what our own metropolises may leave behind.

A Japanese corporation has turned this small island town into living modern art gallery.

This ancient temple is set up to take you on a pilgrimage of self.