Places sophiasmolenski Wants to Go

Composed of scrap metal, a pair of platform-length murals chronicle Japan’s history, from the Big Bang to the development of modern Tokyo.

The only natural gorge in metropolitan Tokyo, with lots of greenery and ancient burial chambers.

Rice balls symbolize fate and relationship at this adorable shrine, which was once dedicated to the Buddhist Devil.

A glimpse into life in 1830s Tokyo, back during the heyday of the Tokugawa shogunate.

The world's largest permanent architectural projection display entertains audiences nightly with 28-story light shows.

A small museum in a ward on the east side of Tokyo showcases the works of one of Japan's greatest ukiyo-e artists.

The site of Japan’s first archaeological excavation is also the birthplace of fingerprint forensics.

This museum celebrates the history of Japanese advertising, from feudal business tricks to modern T.V. commercials.

A hole-in-the-wall antiquities museum in one of Tokyo's most popular megamalls.

This museum is dedicated to the cultural history of tobacco and salt, once monopolized in Japan.

This bizarre residential building is the masterpiece of Von Jour Caux, the “Gaudí of Japan.”

If you forgot something to read during your trip to Tokyo, this hostel has you covered.

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

Weighing nearly seven tons, this massive sculpture was carved out of 500-year-old wood and decorated with thousands of jewels.

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

An unexpected curiosity cabinet hidden within a department store in the Japan Post tower.

A museum dedicated to the history of Tokyo's often-overlooked working-class district.

Discover the past, present, and future of packaging in this unique Japanese museum.

Inside the columbarium, thousands of colorful, high-tech Buddhas guard the ashes of the dead.

A Buddhist temple to honor insects that died for science.

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

This sprawling scenic burial ground is the final resting place of Japan's last shogun.

A bibliophile's heaven that contains hundreds of bookstores, offering over a third of secondhand books for sale in Tokyo.

A railway station takeout shop sells boxed meals in containers shaped like trains and snowmen that hold the country’s abundant regional delicacies.