Places inlandempirical Wants to Go

This large midwestern cavern features impressive rock formations and an underground waterfall.

Take a break from all the boring business of death at this funeral home mini-golf course.

The beloved home to all publications indie, erotic, and punky.

The only Native American comic shop in the world.

Flashy signs from Las Vegas’s past find their final resting place at this unusual graveyard.

During the holidays, a vintage subway train whisks New Yorkers back in time.

A miniature rainforest is growing inside of a Midtown Manhattan office building.

The oldest family-run luncheonette in New York, last renovated in 1948, still serves food and drinks the old-fashioned way.

Nope, not the one in France. The only officially-recognized reproduction of Monet’s garden in Giverny is located in a remote corner of Japan.

Philadelphia boasts one of the best — and most often overlooked — traditional Japanese gardens in North America.

The bad-ass ride of a soul legend, housed in one of the world's few soul museums.

Small and slightly hidden, the American Writers Museum is preserving the legacy of America's finest authors.

Rifle through images of skyscrapers, Worlds Fairs, and more in the largest public postcard repository in America.

Starship-temple contains 400 tons of drinking water and offers free Japanese lessons.

This subterranean spot might be the epitome of Japan's baroque, retro coffee houses.

Shrine to Japanese water-goblins, complete with their preserved body parts.

Colloquially known as “piss alley,” this narrow street filled with tiny bars and barbecue stands looks like it was pulled straight out of “Blade Runner.”

Every color in the rainbow awaits.

A magical place that lets you play in and explore the world of Studio Ghibli.

An enormous playhouse designed to look like 21 stacked Lego bricks, with another 25 million colorful Legos inside.

The site of the climactic scene from the classic horror film is now a historic landmark.

Bar full of oddities, specimens, artifacts and homages to the great dime museums of the past.

A replica of the famous memorial statue at the Normandy American Cemetery hides in an office building in downtown D.C.

This seemingly out-of-place gas station by the Watergate hotel was once described as the most expensive gas station in the world.