VanessaMontalbano's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Places visited in Yamagata, Japan
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Places added to Roswell, New Mexico
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Places visited in Mito, Japan
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Places visited in Himeji, Japan
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Places visited in Kawasaki, Japan
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Mito, Japan

Mito Low District Water Tower

This beautiful defunct water tower adds a European flair to a traditional Japanese neighborhood.
Mito, Japan

Ogushi Kaizuka Park

A park built around the legend of a clam-loving giant who created a monumental midden.
Hitachinaka, Japan

Kochia Hill

Every autumn, this hillside is ablaze with red summer cypress.
Kawasaki, Japan

Anata No Warehouse

This faux-seedy Japanese arcade is made up to look like a maze of alleys straight out of a cyberpunk dystopia.
London, England

Highgate Cemetery

London's creepiest cemetery was once the site of dueling magicians and mobs of stake-carrying vampire hunters.
Osaka, Japan

Gate Tower Building

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

Keihin Industrial Ward

An eerie maze of industrial factories looks like something out of a dystopian sci-fi.
Narusawa-mura, Japan

Narusawa Hyoketsu (Ice Cave)

A 70-foot-deep ice cave formed by lava from Mt. Fuji on the edge of Japan's "Suicide Forest." 
Tokyo, Japan

Myth of Tomorrow

After being lost for decades, this striking mural depicting the atomic bomb covers the wall of a busy Tokyo metro station.
Shirakawa-mura, Japan

Shirakawa-go

This isolated Japanese mountain village untouched by time showcases unique and stunning traditional architecture.
Tokyo, Japan

Garden of Unborn Children

Rows of stone statues are dressed up to mourn children that are lost before birth.
Yamagata, Japan

Yamadera Temple Complex

The Buddhist temples of Yamadera, built into a mountain side, feature a viewing deck with sweeping views.
Sendai-shi, Japan

Sendai Daikannon

One of the tallest statues in the world, and the tallest statue of a goddess in Japan.
Fujinomiya-shi, Japan

Aokigahara Forest

A beautiful, dense forest in the shadow of Mount Fuji, with a tragic reputation.
Kyonan, Japan

Mount Nokogiri (Saw Mountain)

This sawtooth mountain range still bears the strangely lovely marks of its history as a medieval quarry.
Capbreton, France

Capbreton Blockhouses

Abandoned blockhouses from Nazi Germany's Atlantic Wall erode into the sea on a French beach.
Ordino, Andorra

The Miniature Museum

Some of the smallest works of art in existence.
Ushiku, Japan

Ushiku Daibutsu: The Great Buddha of Ushiku

The third-tallest statue in the world depicts the "Buddha of Infinite Light," complete with observation deck in his chest.
Nikko, Japan

Kanmangafuchi Abyss

A remarkable lava formation encloses a line of Buddhist statues that can't be accurately counted, according to local mythology.
Hakone, Japan

Owakudani Black Eggs

Legend holds eating just one of these black eggs can add seven years to one's life.
Tokyo, Japan

Naki Sumo Baby Crying Contest

For hundreds of years, participants in this Japanese festival have been making babies cry to ward off demons.
Tokyo, Japan

Sanrio Puroland

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

Gotokuji Temple

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

The Giant Ghibli Clock

Tokyo’s only Vaudeville-cuckoo clock–steampunk-Victorian curio cabinet time piece.