Places MikeInSanFrancisco Wants to Go

This mesmerizingly colorful pond looks like a scene straight out of a fairytale.

Go through the looking glass in Tokyo's Wonderland-themed shop.

1,001 carved statues of the Buddhist God of Mercy, each with a unique face.

This historical theme park celebrates all things noodle.

This spa theme park lets its guests take a dip in pools of coffee, wine, or ramen broth.

Hanging over one of Japan’s “hidden valleys,” these vine bridges must be remade every three years.

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

Bioluminescent firefly squid light up this Japanese fishing port.

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

The legendary birthplace of the Japanese maneki-neko is dotted with hundreds of lucky beckoning cats.

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

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.”

The magical, mossy forest that inspired 'Princess Mononoke.'

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

A secretive collection featuring objects that were designed specifically for U.S. intelligence operations.

These figures float and flutter in this fountain crafted by famed Swedish sculptor Carl Milles.

Cadillac where country's first big star was found dead.

The former home of the hard partying literary power couple is now one of the only museums devoted to their story.

One of only two pod-shaped homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

A graveyard of bathyspheres and diving bells paints a weirdly accurate account of ocean exploration's rickety history.

Interact with jury-selected works of art at this Gulf Coast underwater museum.

A trio of colossal statues spread across a Dallas neighborhood chart the emergence of a giant robot born of a locomotive and spilled gin.

This restored farmhouse is a time capsule of a 19th-century Colorado homestead.

A mesmerizing disco ball-like sculpture along the Sacramento River Walk.