OK, Maybe You Can't See the Elephants

Tochinoki: The menu at this family-owned place in Harajuku is in calligraphic Japanese, but don't let that stop you—everything is delicious, so just start pointing. The countryside-style dishes include lotus-and-sesame salad, grilled salmon, and something that resembles fried Spam but tastes like crab cakes. 3-1-21 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, 011-81/3-3403-5375, small plates from $4. Ten-ichi: If you have time for a leisurely lunch, sit at Ten-ichi's worn wooden bar and try the multicourse tempura prix fixe: dish after dish of lightly battered lotus, eggplant, scallops, shrimp, and tender cuttlefish. 6 Namiki, 6-6-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku, 011-81/3-3571-1949, tempura from $9.50. Namjatown: This "food theme park" spread across two floors of the Sunshine City mall is exactly what it sounds like: After buying a $3 admission ticket, you can eat at several themed culinary zones, including Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium, a fake street lined with huts that serve nothing but Japanese dumplings. The gyoza are stuffed with shrimp, dressed with lime, or blackened in a cast-iron skillet. For dessert, Ice Cream City has hundreds of flavors, from wildflower honey to chicken liver. Higashi Ikebukuro 3-chome, Toshima-ku, 011-81/3-5950-0765, six dumplings from $3.50. Imajin: There are just six stools at this Sputnik of a pub, where the walls are lined with liquor bottles scrawled with the names of regulars. The friendly, bandanna-wearing owner doesn't speak much English, but he's eager to accommodate anyone looking to sample shochu (a liquor made from barley, sweet potatoes, or rice), which he pairs with such homemade dishes as egg-fried rice with beef. 3-1-26 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, entrées from $9.50. Ueno Taishoen: The Japanese call their perfected version of Korean barbecue yakiniku. This unassuming restaurant in the Ueno neighborhood lets diners cook their own yakiniku dishes—sweet-potato slices, matsutake mushrooms, marinated brisket with leeks—on a cast-iron grill in the center of each table. 8-10 Heitoku, Ueno-ku, 011-81/3-3834-6541, small plates from $7. Crayonhouse: Wedged between glitzy boutiques in Omote Sando, the three-story children's toy and book store also has a produce market and a simple but excellent organic restaurant. Lunch is buffet-style, but the best time to go is dinner, when the à la carte menu features sashimi appetizers, seasonal vegetables steamed in a bamboo basket, grilled fish with herbs, and a tofu salad with a zesty tomato vinaigrette. 3-8-15 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, 011-81/3-3406-6409, entrées from $5.

1. The Platform Artists Group takes underground art to another level: The pink-tiled contemporary-art gallery is located in a subway station beneath the Degraves Street underpass. Site-specific sculptures, photographs, and paintings are displayed in the nooks and crannies of the art deco–style station, originally built for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. platform.org.au. 2. At the Little Cupcakes bakery, pastry chef Jamie Min specializes in small snacks: a couple bites' worth of mini buttercream-frosted cupcakes. Popular flavors include passion fruit, coconut, lemon, and Belgian dark chocolate, which pairs nicely with a "babychino." But try to get there before the nearby high school lets out, or you'll miss out. 7 Degraves St., 011-61/3-9077-0413, littlecupcakes.com.au, from $2.50. 3. Karen Rieschieck named her Alice Euphemia boutique after a respected seamstress in Melbourne. To stock her offbeat clothing and accessories shop, Rieschieck regularly makes the rounds at fashion schools across Australia and New Zealand to scout up-and-coming talent. One of her latest finds is Jade Sarita Arnott, a crafter of whimsical quilted dresses and coats. 37 Swanston St., 011-61/3-9650-4300, aliceeuphemia.com. 4. Brother-and-sister design team Alex and Georgie Cleary opened their new Alphaville boutique in the former library of St. Paul's Cathedral in 2006, making it one of the first shops to take up residence on a Melbourne laneway. They replaced the bookshelves with racks of Alex's T-shirt dresses and men's tees that Georgie silk-screens with images of pop-culture icons such as River Phoenix. 201 Flinders Ln., 011-61/3-9663-3002, alpha60.com.au. 5. The main branch of The Australian College of Hair Design and Beauty offers facials, massages, body wraps, and manicures at sinfully affordable prices—a one-hour massage is $34. Care to splurge? You can get a facial, foot treatment, hot-stone massage, and body exfoliation package for $190. 234 Flinders Ln., 011-61/3-9654-7130, achdb.com.au. 6. The glass-and-slate Hotel Causeway is steps from the Howey Place Arcade, Melbourne's boutique shopping area. The hotel's rooms have dark-burgundy furnishings and bathrooms with deep soaker tubs; the glassed-in penthouse gym has panoramic views of the city. 275 Little Collins St., 011-61/3-9660-8888, hotelcauseway.com.au, from $157. 7. The hotel happens to be around the corner from the best breakfast and brunch spot in town, Pushka. The five-table café makes a killer espresso, along with "crazy toast" (Vegemite and avocado) and co-owner Tim Dunn's wildly popular "eggs & soldiers," soft-boiled eggs served with toast sticks. Pushka also has the tiniest art gallery in Melbourne—a one-foot-tall glass display case that features a different artist each month. 20 Presgrave Pl., breakfast from $5. 8. On any given night, groups of Asian exchange students, young hipster couples, and grandparents with their grandkids squeeze into the communal tables at Shanghai Dumpling Restaurant. The family-run eatery earned its cult following thanks to its belly-filling dumplings made with pork, beef, or seasonal vegetables—and served by the 6, 12, or 20 count. 25 Tattersalls Ln., 011-61/3-9663-8555, from $5.50. 9. You'll have to maneuver through a maze of winding alleys to get to The Croft Institute. The three-story bar was once a psychiatric hospital, which explains why the place is outfitted with beakers, test tubes, and old-fashioned gurneys. The drinks menu is just as quirky, including a "Death in the Afternoon" cocktail laced with absinthe. On the weekends, DJs spin everything from drum and bass to hip-hop in the bar's top-floor gymnasium. 21 Croft Alley, 011-61/3-9671-4399, thecroftinstitute.com.au, drinks from $7. 10. At Von Haus, a shabby-chic wine bar that opened this year, nearly every wine on the list is available by the glass, including boutique pours from Tasmania, New Zealand, and Hungary. Von Haus also has small-plate nibbles such as house-cured salmon and trout, homemade pâté, and a creamy walnut-and-honey tart that's sold by the inch. 1A Crossley St., 011-61/3-9662-2756, wine from $5.

Mound City The Army used the 23 grass-covered hillocks that form Mound City as a World War I campsite. Today, visitors can wander the 13 acres of ancient burial mounds. You can also learn about the people who built the structures—they left no record of a written language—at a museum displaying such artifacts as copper bird cutouts and blades carved from obsidian. 16062 State Rte. 104, Chillicothe, 740/774-1126, open year-round. Fort Ancient Around 2,000 years ago, Native American builders sliced the topsoil off a 125-acre, hourglass-shaped bluff using the shoulder blades of deer, and then they molded the excess dirt into Fort Ancient's serpentine walls. The site has 2.5 miles of hiking trails and a replica of a traditional dwelling built with mud plaster and woven saplings that you can visit. 6123 State Rte. 350, Oregonia, 800/283-8904, Apr.–Oct., museum $8. The Octagon In addition to being skilled engineers, the creators of the mounds were astute astronomers. The best way to view this 60-acre site (only part of which is shown here) on a golf course in Newark is from a 10-foot observation tower when the moon is out. Throughout the lunar cycle, the moon aligns with different points of the octagon and its adjoining circle. 125 N. 33rd St., Newark, 800/600-7178, open year-round. Serpent Mound For a bird's-eye view of the 1,348-foot-long snake—the largest effigy mound in the world—climb the 35-foot tower. The serpent, which appears to be swallowing a big egg, was sculpted across the grassy hilltop nearly 1,000 years ago. The snake's head was designed to align with the summer-solstice sunset, and the coils point to the winter-solstice sunrise. 3580 State Rte. 73, Peebles, 937/587-2796, May–Oct., parking $7.

For more travel news, updated daily, check our blog, This Just In. Southern fare Atlanta hosts its annual food festival Oct. 11 and 12, with cooking demos by celebrity chefs. tasteofatlanta.com, $35. Lions and tigers and...segways A new two-hour rolling safari tour at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park lets visitors see wildlife from a Segway. sandiegozoo.org. Scuba do Cruise West is now offering scuba side trips on three of its South Pacific sailings aboard the Spirit of Oceanus this winter. cruisewest.com. Disney goes global Tour operator Adventures by Disney has eight new trips, including a safari in South Africa. adventuresbydisney.com. Aztec art The Field Museum in Chicago is the only U.S. venue that will exhibit "Aztec World," a show of nearly 300 artifacts. fieldmuseum.org, through April, $22. Not-so-pricey pampering Spas in the Midwest and across the East Coast will be offering $50 treatments for Spa Week, Oct. 13 to 19. spaweek.org Very hands-on The Please Touch Museum reopens in Philadelphia this month, including an Alice in Wonderland–inspired rabbit hole. pleasetouchmuseum.org, $15.