TAKAYAMA SHOWA-KAN MUSEUM.

The best place in Takayama. Might be the craziest place I've been to in my whole life, it makes Don Quijote look like a sterile, modern post office. A must-go if you're in Takayama, and it makes Takayama a must-go if you're in any way a fan of the showa era. As soon as you step through the door and enter what appears like a candy store, but it's the weird old candy your grandpa might have, the kind that predates the internet and might have been made before the invention of expiration dates, it's a complete blast from the past. Astro Boy, city pop, first generation home console video games, this place isn't so much a museum as it is a time capsule in the form of a building. There's a tiny alley with mock storefronts. There's a period classroom, a period barbershop, even a period restaurant. There's an old-timey phonebooth and a car that could have been driven by Brendan Fraser in the Mummy, both of which you can actually enter.