Places jgallagherm Wants to Go

A cool dive bar, off the beaten track.

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

The Buddhist temples of Yamadera, built into a mountain side, feature a viewing deck with sweeping views.

The divine septet of Japanese fortune gods are rendered in 1,000-year-old wood at this peaceful site.

A railway station takeout shop sells boxed meals in containers shaped like trains and snowmen that hold the country’s abundant regional delicacies.

Giant animal sculptures are created with the rice straw leftover from the fall harvest each year.

The largest volcanic caldera in Japan holds an entire city in its maw.

Giant sand sculptures of famous people and places are on display near the Tottori sand dunes.

Crawl through the hole in the middle of this stone to break off a bad relationship or initiate a good one.

Be a ninja - or just act like one.

These Japanese gardens are blankets of light for dark winter nights.

Thirty architectural gems from the 19th- and early 20th-century Tokyo were restored and relocated to this space.

This sawtooth mountain range still bears the strangely lovely marks of its history as a medieval quarry.

The tallest bronze seated statue of the Buddha in Japan.

This retro underwater observation tower would make the perfect lair for a sea-loving villain.

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

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

Japan's largest area of "pink moss" turns the hillside bright pink every spring.

A remarkable lava formation encloses a line of Buddhist statues that can't be accurately counted, according to local mythology.

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

Coast along one of Japan’s mountain railways for coveted views of magnificent hydrangeas.

A disconnected rotary phone for "calling" lost loved ones offered a unique way of dealing with grief in disaster-stricken Japan.

Unusual hexagonal rocks formed by cooling lava named for their resemblance to traditional Japanese tatami mats.

A real-life replica of a home from Hayao Miyazaki's beloved movie "My Neighbor Totoro."