This retro underwater observation tower would make the perfect lair for a sea-loving villain.

This mesmerizingly colorful pond looks like a scene straight out of a fairytale.

Steaming blood-red hot spring from hell.

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

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

Unusual hexagonal rocks formed by cooling lava named for their resemblance to traditional Japanese tatami mats.

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

A massive cave complex boasts some of the clearest water (and most charming bats) in the world.

Every color in the rainbow awaits.

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

Not quite the menace it once was, this monster still has some chops.

The sound of swaying stalks in this stunning grove has been named a governmentally recognized sound.

Bioluminescent firefly squid light up this Japanese fishing port.

Hot springs monkey spa in the middle of Hell's Valley.

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

Cabaret where the show girls are all androids, and the patrons couldn't be more pleased.

On Japan's Tashirojima Island, cats are king.

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

A library of rare occult books in Los Angeles.

A strange house built only at night, with rumored mystic inspiration.

The largest self-built castle in the U.S., six decades in the making.

Florida might be at its most surreal in this museum devoted to the famed Spanish artist.

The hike through a narrow river flanked by the 2,000-foot-tall walls of Zion Canyon is one of the best in the world.

The land is full of geologic eye candy, such as otherworldly spires, mushroom-shaped hoodoos, and prehistoric fossils.