Home to the world's oldest wooden building.

Near the mouth of the Yodo River, this museum offers visitors six floors of hands-on learning about Osaka's raw sewage.

This giant seated Bhudda of Healing dates to the 1780s.

One of the bloodiest and most important battles in Japanese history is recreated with kitschy concrete statues.

A whimsical museum dedicated to the mischievous kappa, a mythical cucumber-loving water sprite.

A 17th-century Shinto shrine that is home to statues of Mickey Mouse and Pikachu.

High in the mountains of Kochi Prefecture, a magnificent library designed by a world-famous architect.

Japan's hottest hot spring has a memorable name.

Hidden by the roadside in the Iya Valley, this gem brings together folk monsters and the region's unique geography.

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

When this massive wooden temple ran out of rope, they made one out of devotees' hair.

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

This incredible mountainside temple is home to intriguing statues of demon-like creatures.

A 14th-century European chapel sticks out of the facade of a Japanese hotel.

A hub of information on tropical diseases and their treatments.

Japan's first automaton went missing, only to be revived by the Osaka Science Museum.

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

"Singing sands" and the world's largest hourglass reside near Japan's Kotogahama beach.

Weighing nearly 7 tons, this massive sculpture was carved out of 500-year-old wood and decorated with thousands of jewels.

This exacting restaurant will charge a fine for every grain of rice you've left behind.

One of the tallest statues in the world, and the tallest statue of a goddess in Japan.

A remote and slightly overgrown park filled with replicas of world landmarks.

You can still find treasures on the pebbly beaches of one of the world's oldest jade-producing areas.

450 dead and frozen fish, proudly on display in Japan.