Places positivelypossessed Wants to Go

An eerie reminder to the horrors of World War II.

This Japanese Manneken Pis gets new outfits for every occasion.

Hidden by the roadside in the Iya Valley, this gem brings together folk monsters and the region's unique geography.

A culturally significant rural temple in the beautiful mountains of Itoshima.

This 400-year-old sweet shop serves a delicacy some have described as "edible incense."

These unconventional "tub boats" let locals row around the island's turbulent coast.

It is said that coins washed in the waters here will miraculously multiply.

Rubbing salt on this small stone dog is said to make wishes come true.

Every spring, this walkway outside the Japan Mint turns into a cherry blossom tunnel.

Plagued with warts? Leave a frog at this small shrine in the city of Tosa, and you may be cured.

A Japanese shrine to dolls.

Narrow passes cut out of mountains surround the medieval capital of Japan.

This temple is steeped in local folklore involving a teakettle and a raccoon dog.

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

A sobering scientific reminder of the human damage caused by the advent of the nuclear age.

A 17th-century Shinto shrine that is home to statues of Mickey Mouse and Pikachu.

One of the tallest statues in the world, and the tallest statue of a goddess in Japan.

A statue erected on an infamous cliff where young boys would hold dangerous "pee offs" to prove their mettle.

As the aging humans of this Japanese village die off one local artisan is replacing them with eerie homonculi.

A network of sandy streets lined with verdant fukugi trees weaves throughout this tiny seaside town.

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

A train ride to the middle of nowhere gives its passengers some of the most iconic views of Japan's seasons.

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

A real-life replica of a home from Hayao Miyazaki's beloved movie "My Neighbor Totoro."