The seat of the lost Ryukyu Kingdom has survived numerous fires and wars over the centuries.

The site of Japan's first major environmental disaster.

A trio of keyhole-shaped burial mounds restored to their ancient glory.

Access to this hidden site of a 14th-century mass suicide is prohibited, unless it is to pray for the dead.

This infamous execution site inspired the beginning of Japan's modernization in the late 18th-century.

A site where ten to twenty thousand Edo-era prisoners were put to death.

A statue meant to celebrate peace has also been interpreted as a mother taking away her son's internet privileges.

The birthplace of Japanese coinage.

This ancient burial cave along a roadside is also home to several Buddhist sculptures.

A train station decorated by a giant replica of an ancient Shakōki-dogū figurine.

These tiny pine-covered islands have inspired art and poetry for centuries.

Chiseled out of a sandstone cliff, one farmer's unfinished art project lies in ruins.

The site of a famous samurai duel.

The largest archaeological site from the Yayoi period.

This phallic temple was erected in the forest to honor the tragic death of a samurai lord's son.

One of the few surviving World War II-era air-raid shelters in Tokyo.

This massive, beautifully-lit underground quarry leaves visitors in awe.

Tragic reminders of the 1945 firebombing campaign over Tokyo still haunt this bridge.

The only Buddhist temple in Japan dedicated to breasts.

Take a few seconds to look at this abandoned, art-filled station as you pass by on the subway to Ueno.

One in a pair of subterranean caves created by an ancient eruption of Mount Fuji.

This shrine dedicated to a legendary swordsman has become a pilgrimage site for the ill and infirmed.

This mysterious medieval grotto holds a grid of sacred wells of unknown purpose.

Stone slabs along the coast warn of Japan's tsunami-ravaged past, often marking the highest point of a wave's reach.