The oldest hotel in the world has been operated by the same family for over 1,300 years, even catering to samurai.

Philadelphia boasts one of the best — and most often overlooked — traditional Japanese gardens in North America.

A rare surviving example of a pre-WWII Japanese garden, restored after years of neglect.

A bigger-than-life pun that has become a beacon of altruism.

The sculpture is made of more than 100,000 knives collected to raise awareness about violence.

A poignant memorial shows the widows and children left heartbroken by the worst fishing disaster in Scottish history.

Bioluminescent firefly squid light up this Japanese fishing port.

This faux-seedy Japanese arcade is made up to look like a maze of alleys straight out of a cyberpunk dystopia.

The sound of swaying stalks in this stunning grove has been named a governmentally recognized sound.

A magical place that lets you play in and explore the world of Studio Ghibli.

A giant doughnut was given to the small New Zealand town of Springfield to promote "The Simpsons Movie."

Dubbed the "Blade Runner dragon," this buzzing neon sign is a beloved local icon.

The wartime boat shelter now doubles as an underground concert hall where musicians play on rafts along the waterway.

This vast, water-filled underground labyrinth can only be toured by boat.

Welcome to the world's only museum dedicated to the Ukranian Easter egg.

This Los Angeles animation studio is keeping the wonder of stop motion puppetry alive.

Hollywood's most famous landmark, the "temporary" sign that has stood for decades longer than intended.

Sunset-colored dunes of volcanic ash make taking a poor photo impossible.

Earth's tallest volcano is sacred to Native Hawaiians, and home to a dozen world-class observatories.

Hundreds of glow-in-the-dark objects light up a museum in a historic zinc mine.

A sacred site for Native Americans surveyed by George Washington and owned by both King George III and Thomas Jefferson.

An alternate history park where the Union Army loses the war... to dinosaurs.

This restored Portuguese cafe may well be the most beautiful place in the world to grab a Big Mac.

The "Heroine of Dunkirk" rescued over 7,000 Allied troops during the historic World War II evacuation.