A fifth-century temple improbably built into the side of a cliff.

This artificial lake was built to provide water for a planned facility that would treat tuberculosis patients.

This whimsical garbage disposal facility receives around 12,000 accidental tourists each year.

This brothel-turned-restaurant features plenty of surprises and elaborate, extravagant architecture.

A moss-covered statue of a Japanese Buddhist deity stands at a quiet temple in downtown Osaka.

Blowtorches, tuna, and a jolly, chain-smoking proprietor mark this beloved street-food stand.

This bar is filled with Star Wars merchandise from around the world, all of it unlicensed knockoffs.

One of the first hotel rooms in a pod.

This extravagant villa built by a Burmese merchant is part pagoda and part European mansion.

An eerie abandoned gentlemen's club built for British officials during the colonial era.

The ruins of this prominent glass factory yield hidden treasures buried among the jungle floor.

A tiny collection of traditional Japanese woodblock prints, open only when the owner feels like it.

A small shrine dedicated to a god of lightning and electronics.

The site where the famous city gate once stood, now in the middle of a playground.

Have a soak at this retro bathhouse, where you will find Japan's first electric bath, tiling from Spain, and wood carvings representing the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

More than 300 years old, Kyoto's historic "teahouse" still operates as an invitation-only geisha club.

The cemetery houses the remains of Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, one of Japan's most famous novelists.

Established over a thousand years ago, this family-run teahouse continues to serve skewers of sweet rice cake to this day.

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

The cutest shrine in Kyoto is dedicated to bunnies.

One of Kyoto's oldest food establishments has supplied soba noodles to temple priests and the Imperial Palace.

Crawl through the hole in the middle of this stone to break off a bad relationship or initiate a good one.

A beautiful bamboo trail tucked in this famous Japanese Shrine.

Twelve hundred stone carvings guard this off-the-beaten-path Buddhist temple.