This bizarre residential building is the masterpiece of Von Jour Caux, the “Gaudí of Japan.”

The largest seated Buddha statue in Japan is the centerpiece of an abandoned complex in a quiet, seaside town.

This garden located inside a bamboo forest once belonged to a famous Japanese actor.

A lesser-known sister to Paris's world-famous museum, located within a Buddhist sculpture paradise.

When this clock strikes a certain time, puppets showcase a story of life in Edo Japan.

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

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 hole-in-the-wall antiquities museum in one of Tokyo's most popular megamalls.

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

The birthplace of Japanese coinage.

The remains of the vast manor that once belonged to Lord Kira, villain in the 47 Ronin story, is now a shrine dedicated to the incident.

For centuries, this gold mine was the powerhouse behind the Tokugawa Shogunate.

A wooden prison doesn't sound like a good idea, yet this abandoned 1950s detention center still stands today.

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

A Buddhist temple on an artificial island that houses a monument to the fugu fish.

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

Dedicated to the armor and weapons used by the legendary Japanese warriors.

An eerie reminder to the horrors of World War II.

Nope, not the one in France. The only officially-recognized reproduction of Monet’s garden in Giverny is located in a remote corner of Japan.

A bibliophile's heaven that contains hundreds of bookstores, offering over a third of secondhand books for sale in Tokyo.

Constructed thousands of years ago, these stone circles offer incredible insight into the lives of the people who built them.

A train ride to the middle of nowhere gives its passengers some of the most iconic views of Japan's seasons.

Ruins and statues dot the landscape of this tiny island rich with royal history.