Places CaveVex Wants to Go

A memorial to the man who brought Western medicine to Japan.

Once considered a massive folly, this "miracle floodgate" saved its town from tsunami devastation in 2011.

A school destroyed by fire and tsunami simultaneously is preserved as a memorial.

An old woman cured cholera in the 1820s and now her grave is said to be the city’s most cursed object.

A mystical shrine dedicated to a forest that once covered the area and the legendary fox spirit who lived there.

The lesser-known eastern counterpart to Kyoto’s famous fox shrine.

This church commemorates a venerable, yet nigh-forgotten woman who dedicated her life to the poor in post-war Tokyo.

Kokera sushi may be the rarest sushi you have never heard of. 

Nestled among the bamboos in a temple complex, this art installation serves as a unique memorial to insects.

An Akita-themed facility modeled after the old Shibuya Station, erected in honor of Hachiko, a famously loyal dog.

A collection of nostalgic items from the Showa era with an exhibit on the local ghost story of the Snow Woman.

Learn about the indigenous people of Japan's northernmost islands.

A museum housed in a stunning Rockefeller-funded medical institute building from the 1930s.

All 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac are depicted in anthropomorphized deity form.

Take a lick of the legendary homemade miso paste that protected this Buddhist temple’s scrolls from a fire centuries ago.

A narrow, dead-end alley hides with a small fox shrine and the untold history of Yokohama's historic red-light district.

The strange “kaiju” of Lake Imba that allegedly killed over a dozen men with a single strike of lightning.

Nine healing baths available only to those who stay in this quaint town, said to have inspired 'Spirited Away.'

Various accidents and illnesses fell upon the developers who tried to remove these historic trees.

Row through this enchanted narrow chasm whose stones are said to resemble dragon scales.

Home to a garden of poisonous plants and the only legal cannabis and opium farms in Tokyo.

Ward off bad luck and fill your bottle with "the most watery water" at this little roadside shrine in Yonezawa.

A museum of space exploration in the UFO capital of Japan.

This iconic “station bento” comes in an earthenware pot you can take home and repurpose.