Places emmycate Wants to Go

The bartenders at this crime-fighting theme cafe are actual private detectives by day.

One of the world's largest tanks mimics the experience of watching rare whale sharks, giant rays, and deep sea creatures from the ocean floor.

Make your own fake treats at this factory and workshop in the epicenter of Japan's food replica industry.

A Japanese train station built around a 700-year-old camphor tree.

A restaurant modeled after feudal Japan, where the waitstaff are trained as ninjas.

The world’s first hotel to be run by robots.

This town near Nagasaki is flecked with fruit-flavored bus stops.

A beautiful, dense forest in the shadow of Mount Fuji, with a tragic reputation.

Bioluminescent firefly squid light up this Japanese fishing port.

The largest of the Fuji Five Lakes is home to an impressive swan population—some real, some with paddles, and one with an observation deck.

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

The oldest hotel in the world has been operated by the same family for over 1,300 years, even catering to samurai.

This Buddhist temple is home to the graves of the Japanese national legends, the 47 Ronin.

The Yonaguni Monument, a natural formation or the Japanese Atlantis?

This spa theme park lets its guests take a dip in pools of coffee, wine, or ramen broth.

Drinkslinger is an unlikely vocation for a Buddhist monk, but at this Tokyo bar the enlightenment is served in a martini glass.

An unlikely hit, this museum is dedicated to the inventor of instant ramen and cup noodles.

Japanese island famous for poison gas and fluffy bunnies.

Legend holds eating just one of these black eggs can add seven years to one's life.

The magical, mossy forest that inspired 'Princess Mononoke.'

Once a black market electronics marketplace, now an otaku shopper's paradise.

The 10,000 Torii shrine.

The legendary birthplace of the Japanese maneki-neko is dotted with hundreds of lucky beckoning cats.

This 700-year-old street food market features baby octopus and soy donuts.