Just 40 minutes outside the elegance of Paris, there’s a place where dragons sleep under castles, pirates sail through glowing caves, and you might just bump into a mouse wearing red shorts and yellow shoes. No, this isn’t a hallucination brought on by too much fromage—this is Disneyland Paris, and it’s every bit as magical as it sounds.

In the middle of a quiet Japanese winter, where steam rises from hot springs and snow softens every sound, something extraordinary happens on **Lake Suwa**. The ice begins to heave, crack, and rise—forming jagged, frozen ridges that stretch across the lake like ancient scars. Locals call it **Omiwatari**, the “Crossing of the Gods.”