Places NixOfNowhere Wants to Go

South Korea's love of the silly photograph is on full display at this goofy collection of trompe l'oeil paintings.

Plenty of old carney magic still haunts this photogenic amusement park.

This spectacular track has run continuously since 1882.

This "zoo" is a cross between a junkyard and a sculpture garden, featuring animals you won't see anywhere else.

Hidden beneath a bridge, this waterfall is known for the large amounts of graffiti painted on its base.

A Buddhist temple to honor insects that died for science.

Experience park where visitors are told to expect the unexpected.

This massive wooden building contains a giant Buddha, healing pillars, and tame deer wandering the grounds.

Once the most densely populated place in the world, this island is now a ghost town.

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

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

Tokyo’s only Vaudeville-cuckoo clock–steampunk-Victorian curio cabinet time piece.

Barbies stare from the walls, sit on the tables, and even pop out of cakes at this quirky cafe.

Haunted house kitsch meets Japanese folklore at this theme bar where patrons can “die” and have their own mock funeral.

This snack factory boasts several tributes to its popular line of rice crackers, including a quasi-shrine.

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

This enormous "shamoji" means more to the people of Miyajima than just a way getting rice onto a plate.

A monk-run winery inside a Buddhist temple celebrates Japan's crown grape varietal.

Existing for more than four centuries, the last of Hakone’s historic teahouses serves a sweet, mold-based rice drink.

One of the largest producers of MSG in the world welcomes visitors to its Kawasaki factory with an albino panda named Aji-Kun.

This bar is filled with Star Wars merchandise from around the world, all of it unlicensed knockoffs.

Giant art made in Japanese rice fields.

This “peasant café” in the middle of Tokyo re-creates the atmosphere of the Japanese countryside.

An unlikely hit, this museum is dedicated to the inventor of instant ramen and cup noodles.