An eerie reminder to the horrors of World War II.

The world's shortest escalator doesn't seem to have any reason to exist other than to hold a world record.

Existing for more than four centuries, the last of Hakone’s historic teahouses serves a sweet, mold-based rice drink.

A sobering scientific reminder of the human damage caused by the advent of the nuclear age.

The largest of the Fuji Five Lakes is home to an impressive swan population—some real, some with paddles, and one with an observation deck.

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

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

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

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

Japanese national treasure originally built in 593 CE.

Inside this chapel, Victorian jailers took the separate system to new levels.

Legend says this demonic carving inside a medieval cathedral was one of Satan's minions.

One of the shortest streets in York has an especially odd name.

Follow the original medieval paths that wind through this intriguing section of the city.

This sculpture marks the spot where one of the greatest Roman rulers was proclaimed emperor.

This singular Irish dolmen is more Frank Lloyd Wright than upright stonehenge.

A hugely vast Irish landscape of barren rock that stretches for miles.

This beautiful site is where the first transatlantic telegraph was sent from.

An Irish town has built a statue to a silent film actor simply thanks to the holidays he once spent there.

The engineering wonder and pleasure dome of a much-maligned emperor still holds undiscovered secrets.

This ornate Victorian marketplace was the setting for Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron in the Harry Potter films.

Regency-era excess on the English Coast.

This mysterious chalk figure of a horse has been recreated and restored for more than a century.

A beautiful ruin of a 14th-century Plantagenet castle built by a medieval mercenary.