Places pleiades Wants to Go

Although damaged beyond recognition, this stone god is still said to bring good luck to those who tap on him with a pebble.

A miniature shrine in the busy corner of Tokyo's historic Broadway, honoring a sextet of unusual entertainment gods.

A site where ten to twenty thousand Edo-era prisoners were put to death.

Daikon radishes are offered to the Japanese Buddhist counterpart of the Hindu god Ganesha at this historic hilltop temple.

A statue meant to celebrate peace has also been interpreted as a mother taking away her son's internet privileges.

One of the few surviving World War II-era air-raid shelters in Tokyo.

Only the face remains of this giant Buddha statue, which is said to be a source of luck for students.

This strange mural located in the Ueno station is filled with traditional Japanese symbolism.

Unbeknownst to most passersby, this marble statue standing outside an office building is a genuine piece of second-century Rome.

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

Tell this pair of "love-inviting" cats in Ginza your romantic hopes.

Visitors to this park are welcomed by an ancient Japanese megalithic tomb that dates back to the sixth century.

An enormous pair of straw sandals woven in the traditional way—to keep demons at bay.

A crucified and bearded female saint.

An unexpected curiosity cabinet hidden within a department store in the Japan Post tower.

This water goblin statue represents a 19th-century urban legend about a haunted canal that became a Japanese idiom.

Mythical beasts symbolizing the city of Tokyo guard a historic bridge.

This Japanese Manneken Pis gets new outfits for every occasion.

Legend says the goddess this shrine honors curses any couples that pass by.

Weighing nearly seven tons, this massive sculpture was carved out of 500-year-old wood and decorated with thousands of jewels.

After being lost for decades, this striking mural depicting the atomic bomb covers the wall of a busy Tokyo metro station.

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

Discover the past, present, and future of packaging in this unique Japanese museum.

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