Places NixOfNowhere Wants to Go

Elaborate series of tunnels where traces of mass suicide are still visible.

A massive wintry wall of snow up to 66 feet tall flanks a highway through Japan's mountains.

The first location of the eventual video game giant.

A mysterious set of tunnels carved in the hills of rural northern Kyushu.

This Japanese Manneken Pis gets new outfits for every occasion.

Burial mound for the ears and noses of thousands of mutilated Korean soldiers.

This active volcano's siren song to suicide jumpers forced authorities to build a fence.

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

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

A flight of this "ghost staircase" has 40 steps on the way up, but only 39 steps on the way down.

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

Historical Japanese-Dutch relations are honored with haunted rides and flower fields in this replica town.

A moss-covered statue of a Japanese Buddhist deity stands at a quiet temple in downtown Osaka.

This ordinary set of steps is a must-see destination for fans of a certain romantic anime.

Closed for decades, this strange symbol of Japan's Expo '70 has finally opened its psychedelic insides to the public.

It's bad manners to eat and drink on the subways of Tokyo, unless the train is this bar. 

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

The Hanshin Expressway goes right through its 5th, 6th, and 7th floors.

This 14th-century temple is also known as the "Temple of the Golden Pavilion" for its gorgeous gilded reliquary hall.

This pair of small sea rocks has been "wed" using rope and ancient Shinto tradition.

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

Enormous underground chamber built to detect 'ghost particles' of the universe.

The world's largest drain sits below the city of Kasukabe, Japan.

A rare festival blending religion, blacksmiths, vagina dentata, sex workers, and the straight-up facts of life.