Not far from the busy city lie these remains of a time when the world was on fire.

The fastest way to send a message before electricity was invented.

This hole formed by a glacier is the largest and best-preserved of its kind in Stockholm.

The single richest source of elemental discoveries in the world.

This Stockholm light tower can be controlled by anyone with a smartphone.

A rare surviving Victorian greenhouse designed specifically to house giant water lilies.

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

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

Oddly touching memorial to a little-remembered nuclear tragedy.

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

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

Thirty architectural gems from the 19th- and early 20th-century Tokyo were restored and relocated to this space.

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

Drinkslinger is an unlikely vocation for a Buddhist monk, but at this Tokyo bar the enlightenment is served in a martini glass.

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

Giant animal sculptures are created with the rice straw leftover from the fall harvest each year.

This giant fashion model is one of the most beloved symbols of Nagoya.

One of the bloodiest and most important battles in Japanese history is recreated with kitschy concrete statues.

This frescoed ancient burial mound is a colorful window into China’s influence in early Japan.

The only thing sweeter than the potatoes is the canine proprietor of this roadside stall.

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

The small candy-colored ride is the last rooftop Ferris wheel in Tokyo.

Tokyo’s only Ainu restaurant serves Indigenous food from northern Japan.

A modern-day Lascaux cave underneath Paris.