Places shatteredpools Wants to Go

From toys to kettles to scientific instruments, this German museum celebrates the beauty of 20th century design.

The most visited, and possibly most controversial, museum in Germany.

The last moments of the ill-fated Pompeiians, frozen forever in plaster.

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

Uppsala's adorable feline sign celebrates a popular children's book set in the Swedish city.

A King Kong-like gorilla hangs from the top of this commercial building in Tokyo.

This tiny museum hidden above a restaurant houses thousands of modern and traditional kites.

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

A calico cat named Tama was the wildly popular Super Station Master at this train stop in southeast Japan.

Each year this Japanese temple overflows with scowling, bearded good luck talismans.

A Japanese cat island also populated by the descendants of a band of banished samurai.

A disconnected rotary phone for "calling" lost loved ones offered a unique way of dealing with grief in disaster-stricken Japan.

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

The bartenders at this crime-fighting theme cafe are actual private detectives by day.

We heard you like volcanoes so we put a volcano in your volcano so you can die for sure...

This pair of small sea rocks has been "wed" using rope and ancient Shinto tradition.

A Japanese corporation has turned this small island town into living modern art gallery.

A tiny cafe that recreates the Japanese elementary school lunch experience.

The legendary birthplace of the Japanese maneki-neko is dotted with hundreds of lucky beckoning cats.

Every color in the rainbow awaits.

The original "capsule building" is a masterpiece of Metabolist architecture.

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

Experience park where visitors are told to expect the unexpected.

Bioluminescent firefly squid light up this Japanese fishing port.