Shrine dedicated to boars that is believed to cure foot and leg injuries.

This beautiful Japanese garden is a memorial to the samurai who literally wrote the book on business as martial art.

One of the largest producers of MSG in the world welcomes visitors to its Kawasaki factory with an albino panda named Aji-Kun.

The Japanese mayo factory famous for its cute mascot.

The floats housed in this hall are more than 100 years old, and are brought out for an annual celebration.

The giant figure on the back of this turtle-shaped temple actually hides a memorial pendulum.

Japan's largest and oldest annual procession of floats, begun in 869.

A small island with no monkeys but plenty of military ruins.

This active volcano's siren song to suicide jumpers forced authorities to build a fence.

Japan's first automaton went missing, only to be revived by the Osaka Science Museum.

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

The largest collection of model trains in the world is actually run using full-size locomotive technology.

Burial mound for the ears and noses of thousands of mutilated Korean soldiers.

Birthplace of the Tendai sect and home to the marathon monks.

This town near Nagasaki is flecked with fruit-flavored bus stops.

The magical, mossy forest that inspired Princess Mononoke.

We heard you like volcanoes so we put a volcano in your volcano so you can die for sure...

This exacting restaurant will charge a fine for every grain of rice you've left behind.

A giant robo-cockroach building devours Tokyo.

"Singing sands" and the world's largest hourglass reside near Japan's Kotogahama beach.

The divine septet of Japanese fortune gods are rendered in 1,000 year old wood at this peaceful site.

Founded over a thousand years ago, this shrine is said to be built on the site of a warlord's harem prison.

This high-design church is made up of two dizzying spirals meant to evoke the weaving together of marriage.

Giant art made in Japanese rice fields.