Places CShigeoK Wants to Go

The buildings are among the few Frank Lloyd Wright structures still standing in Japan.

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.

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

This giant seated Bhudda of Healing dates to the 1780s.

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

These seven moai figures are the world's only sanctioned replicas of the Easter Island originals.

A charming, homemade vending machine dispenses burgers and sandwiches at this hole-in-the-wall bakery.

Near the mouth of the Yodo River, this museum offers visitors six floors of hands-on learning about Osaka's raw sewage.

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.

This Japanese Manneken Pis gets new outfits for every occasion.

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

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

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

High in the mountains of Kochi Prefecture, a magnificent library designed by a world-famous architect.

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

The tallest city hall in the world offers an excellent bento box.

A collection of more than 1,000 teddies from nearly any profession.

Japan's hottest hot spring has a memorable name.

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

This little town supplies Japan with most of its calligraphy brushes, still made by hand from animal fur.

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

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