Places christiesmiles Wants to Go

This amusement park brings a little slice of England to the heart of Kyushu.

This water goblin statue represents a 19th-century urban legend about a haunted canal that became a Japanese idiom.

Mythical beasts symbolizing the city of Tokyo guard a historic bridge.

Come for the fish sundae, stay for the collection of Studio Ghibli cat buses.

This whimsical garbage disposal facility receives around 12,000 accidental tourists each year.

A rare example of an ancient Japanese hill castle believed to be the fortress of a legendary demon.

Fans line up at the crack of dawn for a slurpy bowl of deliciousness at this noodle counter inside a factory.

"Excuse me sir, your submarine is blocking my building."

This enormous "shamoji" means more to the people of Miyajima than just a way getting rice onto a plate.

This quirky little private museum is home to more than a thousand stones, carved by nature, that resemble human faces.

Narrow passes cut out of mountains surround the medieval capital of Japan.

A 17th-century Shinto shrine that is home to statues of Mickey Mouse and Pikachu.

A whimsical museum dedicated to the mischievous kappa, a mythical cucumber-loving water sprite.

These wondrously illuminated caverns extend under the mountains of the Fukushima Prefecture.

One of the bloodiest and most important battles in Japanese history is recreated with kitschy concrete statues.

Watch out for the two-story Godzilla made out of tires.

This ancient burial site was once thought to be the home of a race distinctive to Ainu folklore.

Hidden by the roadside in the Iya Valley, this gem brings together folk monsters and the region's unique geography.

A statue of a mischievous raccoon towers over this city park.

A monk-run winery inside a Buddhist temple celebrates Japan's crown grape varietal.

Existing for more than four centuries, the last of Hakone’s historic teahouses serves a sweet, mold-based rice drink.

Approximately 300 million years ago, a massive coral reef existed in what is now the largest limestone cave in Japan.

This incredible mountainside temple is home to intriguing statues of demon-like creatures.

When this massive wooden temple ran out of rope, they made one out of devotees' hair.