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

1,001 carved statues of the Buddhist God of Mercy, each with a unique face.

A 70-foot-deep ice cave formed by lava from Mt. Fuji on the edge of Japan's "Suicide Forest." 

Once a black market electronics marketplace, now an otaku shopper's paradise.

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

Hanging over one of Japan's "hidden valleys," these vine bridges must be remade every three years.

This neighborhood thoroughfare is haunted by dozens of homemade monsters.

Not quite the menace it once was, this monster still has some chops.

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

The legendary birthplace of the Japanese maneki-neko is dotted with hundreds of lucky beckoning cats.

This massive wooden building contains a giant Buddha, healing pillars, and tame deer wandering the grounds.

Every autumn, this hillside is ablaze with red summer cypress.

The 10,000 Torii shrine.

Experience park where visitors are told to expect the unexpected.

The magical, mossy forest that inspired Princess Mononoke.

If Hello Kitty were Mickey Mouse, this would be Disneyland.

Come for the fish sundae, stay for the collection of Studio Ghibli cat buses.

Fans line up at the crack of dawn for a slurpy bowl of deliciousness at this noodle counter inside a factory.

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

A monk-run winery inside a Buddhist temple celebrates Japan's crown grape varietal.

One of the largest producers of MSG in the world welcomes visitors to its Kawasaki factory with an albino panda named Aji-Kun.

Sidle into a side alley for a taste of sumo wrestlers' traditional hot-pot soup, in a tiny restaurant founded by a former competitor.

Giant art made in Japanese rice fields.

Existing for more than four centuries, the last of Hakone’s historic teahouses serves a sweet, mold-based rice drink.