Places johntheriel Wants to Go

An eerie reminder to the horrors of World War II.

Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Dome.

A plaque marks the site directly below the mid-air detonation of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.

A displaced shrine that was put back after a string of bad luck.

A remote and slightly overgrown park filled with replicas of world landmarks.

At over 500 years old, this is the oldest surviving toilet in Japan

150 kinds of unique sundaes and gigantic parfaits await at Kyoto’s iconic vintage café

A small shrine dedicated to a tanuki statue, tucked away in a Blade Runner-esque izakaya alley

A mysterious mountaintop temple infamous as the legendary home of the Tengu

A rare statue representing a monk who peeled off his own face to show divinity

The peace and seclusion of Kyoto’s “Moss Temple” is no accident.

The infamous 'Incident at Honnō-ji' brought an end to Oda Nobunaga’s attempt to unify a warring Japan.

A pentagram-covered shrine dedicated to a famed court astrologer known in the west as the Merlin of Japan.

A 1000-year-old shrine in Kyoto with a poorly planned sacred arch.

A century-old house transformed into a cat temple by an artist.

An ancient Greek physician is honored as a god at this hole-in-the-wall shrine.

This compact temple is filled with garlands of colorful balls that represent restrained monkeys.

This ancient, tranquil shrine is the birthplace of ema prayer boards and the Ushi-no-toki-mairi curse ritual.

The home of Mario and his friends

A strip of traditional hand towel serves as an admission ticket at this modern tenugui museum.

Model trains whizz around an extensive room-sized diorama of Kyoto City.

The “bridge of return” is haunted by a myriad of legends, from ghosts to demons to nuptial superstitions.

The cemetery houses the remains of Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, one of Japan's most famous novelists.

A small shrine dedicated to a god of lightning and electronics.