Places NailsNathan Wants to Go

In the dollmaking capital of Japan, a museum dedicated to the traditional craft

A bizarre statue of a Buddhist goddess made from 20,000 insects.

The World Heritage-designated site of Japan’s industrial revolution, once mistaken as a den of vampires.

Each year this Japanese temple overflows with scowling, bearded good luck talismans.

This small Japanese street is lined with figures, sculptures and a shrine dedicated to frogs.

High in the trees or suspended between cables, these surreal structures are the works of a unique Japanese architect.

The only museum dedicated to the American street artist is in rural Japan.

The only Buddhist temple in Japan dedicated to breasts.

A bizarre, tuberculosis sanatorium-themed café moonlighting as an underground art gallery.

Approximately 300 million years ago, a massive coral reef existed in what is now the largest limestone cave in Japan.

This phallic temple was erected in the forest to honor the tragic death of a samurai lord's son.

A whimsical museum dedicated to the mischievous kappa, a mythical cucumber-loving water sprite.

A Japanese shrine to dolls.

An abandoned Art Deco hotel nestled on the side of a wooded mountain.

A Japanese fertility god in the shape of a large phallus.

The literal midpoint of the city, as all distances are calculated from this point

Japan's first automaton went missing, only to be revived by the Osaka Science Museum.

One of the largest legal spray spots in Hamburg.

This striking structure, with balconies jutting out like hedgehog spines, combine cutting-edge design with a playful approach to light and space.

Famous for his giant trolls, Thomas Dambo's lesser-known early work is a creative 3D mural with sustainable birdhouses.

This sculptural representation of an Andersen fairy tale had to be pushed away for being too grim.

A former smithy turned cultural hub with the capital's largest mural space.

An unconventional and naturalistic sculpture depicting the artist marking his territory on an exterior faculty wall.

Positioned outside a church, this sinister folkloric figure incited protests in both 1902 and 2002.