Places sophiasmolenski Wants to Go

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 700-year-old street food market features baby octopus and soy donuts.

The 10,000 Torii shrine.

A magical place that lets you play in and explore the world of Studio Ghibli.

Model trains whizz around an extensive room-sized diorama of Kyoto City.

A strip of traditional hand towel serves as an admission ticket at this modern tenugui museum.

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

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

The cutest shrine in Kyoto is dedicated to bunnies.

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

With over 12,000 different species of plants, this botanical garden is Japan's oldest and most diverse.

A beautiful bamboo trail tucked in this famous Japanese shrine.

Twelve hundred stone carvings guard this off-the-beaten-path Buddhist temple.

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

The quintessential Japanese rock garden has existed for more than 500 years.

This neighborhood thoroughfare is haunted by dozens of homemade monsters.

The Hanshin Expressway goes right through its 5th, 6th, and 7th floors.

Perhaps the world's cheapest vending machines.

A vending machine dedicated to a beloved seaweed.

Tokyo’s “Kitchen Town” hosts a number of shops selling intricate food replicas.

This lesser-visited gallery in a corner of the Tokyo National Museum complex is an architectural beauty dedicated to the ancient treasures of Hōryū-ji.

A colorful, architectural experiment designed to increase a resident's longevity.

This one-of-a-kind indie publisher-bookshop specializes in archiving historic red-light districts and niche cultural topics of the Shōwa era.

The 650 red and white Japanese plum trees of this Tokyo neighborhood blossom each spring.