Places lmack Wants to Go

The groundbreaking Japanese shrine maiden who invented the art of kabuki.

Legend has it that centuries ago, a ghost once frequented this candy shop to feed her still-living baby.

This kitsch-forward diner is dedicated to an almost-forgotten “one-cent” prototype of okonomiyaki.

Visitors to this museum will discover that kaleidoscopes are much more than toys.

Have a soak at this retro bathhouse, where you will find Japan's first electric bath, tiling from Spain, and wood carvings representing the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

Established over a thousand years ago, this family-run teahouse continues to serve skewers of sweet rice cake to this day.

The cutest shrine in Kyoto is dedicated to bunnies.

A shrine contains nearly 200 statues of the Buddhist deity Jizo, dressed in bibs by parents who have lost a child.

A train ride to the middle of nowhere gives its passengers some of the most iconic views of Japan's seasons.

This Kyoto Starbucks takes coffee drinkers back in time.

A beautiful bamboo trail tucked in this famous Japanese shrine.

Twelve hundred stone carvings guard this off-the-beaten-path Buddhist temple.

This neighborhood thoroughfare is haunted by dozens of homemade monsters.

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

The sound of swaying stalks in this stunning grove has been named a governmentally recognized sound.

Not quite the menace it once was, this monster still has some chops.

If Hello Kitty were Mickey Mouse, this would be Disneyland.

The only Edo-period ferry that is still in operation in Tokyo today.

A bibliophile's heaven that contains hundreds of bookstores, offering over a third of secondhand books for sale in Tokyo.

A museum dedicated to the history of Tokyo's often-overlooked working-class district.

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

Tokyo’s only Ainu restaurant serves Indigenous food from northern Japan.

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

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.”