A massive cave complex boasts some of the clearest water (and most charming bats) in the world.

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

Devoted Buddhists can earn enlightenment in the next life by crawling through this symbolic nostril.

White beach sands made of the remains of tiny, star shaped creatures.

Elaborate series of tunnels where traces of mass suicide are still visible.

One of the world's largest ancient burial mounds.

The largest volcanic caldera in Japan holds an entire city in its maw.

Oddly touching memorial to a little-remembered nuclear tragedy.

As the aging humans of this Japanese village die off one local artisan is replacing them with eerie homonculi.

A sculpture that resurrected the only tree standing following the devastating 2011 tsunami.

Largest graveyard in all of Japan surrounds a famous mausoleum.

A rare festival blending religion, blacksmiths, vagina dentata, sex workers, and the straight-up facts of life.

The ruins of Japan’s premier water brothel.

The tallest bronze seated statue of the Buddha in Japan.

Sulphuric gases inhabit a beautiful Japanese island.

Every color in the rainbow awaits.

The magical, mossy forest that inspired Princess Mononoke.

Starship-temple contains 400 tons of drinking water and offers free Japanese lessons.

Abandoned Japanese ghost town gives a glimpse into what our own metropolises may leave behind.

A Buddhist temple to honor insects that died for science.

This Buddhist temple is home to the graves of the Japanese national legends, the 47 Ronin.

Drinkslinger is an unlikely vocation for a Buddhist monk, but at this Tokyo bar the enlightenment is served in a martini glass.

One of the first hotel rooms in a pod.

Reportedly 1,400 years old, this may be the first of the Fiji Mermaids.