Places RakelOm Wants to Go

Home to the world's oldest wooden building.

This brothel-turned-restaurant features plenty of surprises and elaborate, extravagant architecture.

A 14th-century European chapel sticks out of the facade of a Japanese hotel.

A thick blanket of beautiful pampas grass cloaks this unique Japanese landscape.

A quaint amusement park now sits, rusting and forgotten among the foliage.

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

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

These Japanese gardens are blankets of light for dark winter nights.

An oddly touching memorial to a little-remembered nuclear tragedy.

This retro underwater observation tower would make the perfect lair for a sea-loving villain.

Shells collected from over a hundred different countries line the walls, floors and ceilings of this fantasy museum.

Museum showcases Japanese sexuality and some amazing ocean views.

Reportedly 1,400 years old, this may be the first of the Fiji Mermaids.

Experience park where visitors are told to expect the unexpected.

This historic castle is one of the oldest and most impressive in all of Japan.

This massive, Edo Period, coin-shaped sand painting is believed to be a source of great luck.

The seat of the lost Ryukyu Kingdom has survived numerous fires and wars over the centuries.

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

A kitsch shrine dedicated to the ogre-slaying folktale hero born from a peach.

At a Japanese train station, a goddess emerges from a dumpling.

These tiny pine-covered islands have inspired art and poetry for centuries.

Stuck in a bygone era, the oldest subterranean shopping street in Japan hides beneath the popular Asakusa district of Tokyo.

Surreal giant face-pillars welcome visitors from across the globe to this hotel.

The site of a famous samurai duel.