Places risingsperanza Wants to Go

Become a prohibition rebel.

This former Norwegian sailor's church is slowly being taken over by ramshackle robot musicians.

More gold than anywhere else, ever.

Nondescript elevator doors open to reveal a stunning, surreal world.

One of New York's best collections of pinball is hidden in a secret bar in the back of this laundromat.

A restaurant on Staten Island showcases a different grandmother’s cooking every night.

Ride the subways of yesteryear.

Under a glass sidewalk lie the remains of some of Manhattan's oldest buildings.

This abandoned subway station beneath the Waldorf-Astoria hotel is allegedly used to secretly transport presidents.

A miniature rainforest is growing inside of a Midtown Manhattan office building.

The oldest family-run luncheonette in New York, last renovated in 1948, still serves food and drinks the old-fashioned way.

Amid the bustle and noise of the Financial District hides a secluded garden oasis above the city streets.

A tiny museum housed in a New York freight elevator specializes in the "overlooked, dismissed, or ignored."

A Hawaiian stairway to heaven—that you can't climb.

1,001 carved statues of the Buddhist God of Mercy, each with a unique face.

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

Have a soak at this retro bathhouse, where you will find Japan's first electric bath, tiling from Spain, and wood carvings representing the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

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

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

One of Kyoto's oldest food establishments has supplied soba noodles to temple priests and the Imperial Palace.

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

The cutest shrine in Kyoto is dedicated to bunnies.

A shrine contains nearly 200 statues of the Buddhist deity Jizo, dressed in bibs by parents who have lost a child.

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