Places everywhereemily Wants to Go

A gorgeous, nostalgic café housed in a lofty old warehouse, lit only by petroleum lamps.

A nouveau-riche hilltop “palace” that once provided lodging to more than a hundred fishermen.

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

The world's longest tunnel with an undersea section.

Experience park where visitors are told to expect the unexpected.

This bakery in Japan is one of the few places that still sells 'salad bread,' a short-lived staple in the post-World War II years.

A Japanese cat island also populated by the descendants of a band of banished samurai.

Home to the world's oldest wooden building.

According to local legend, anyone who falls on these temple steps will turn into a cat.

A traditional Nepalese window blends into the historic merchant district of Old Nara Town.

This massive section of quay destroyed by an earthquake is preserved to remember the past.

This Western confectionery in Kobe made the German tree stump cake into a Japanese staple.

Japan's largest collection of Western-style mansions in the port city of Kobe includes a recreation of Sherlock Holmes' 221B Baker Street quarters.

An astounding annual light display honors the victims of one of Japan's most devastating earthquakes.

An abandoned Art Deco hotel nestled on the side of a wooded mountain.

In a rural Japanese town that has committed to sustainable practices, even the hotel is made from recycled materials.

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

"The Dance of Fools" is Japan's largest dance festival.

The famed natural wonder that gave its name to a fishcake as well as one of the most popular anime series of all time.

Be a ninja - or just act like one.

Descendants of the samurai who guarded Matsusaka Castle during the Edo period still live in these charming historic houses (and visitors can enter one of them for free).

A lesser-known sister to Paris's world-famous museum, located within a Buddhist sculpture paradise.

This ancient shrine has been rebuilt every 20 years since the eighth century.

This pair of small sea rocks has been "wed" using rope and ancient Shinto tradition.