What's believed to be the country's first shrine is, in Shintō mythology, the annual meeting place of the gods.

Rows of stone statues are dressed up to mourn children that are lost before birth.

The cemetery houses the remains of Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, one of Japan's most famous novelists.

A King Kong-like gorilla hangs from the top of this commercial building in Tokyo.

The world's largest radiation field is probably our best bet for irradiated vegetable superheroes.

Legend says the goddess this shrine honors curses any couples that pass by.

The statue's head is one of the few fragments of the original Urakami Cathedral to survive the atomic bomb.

This sprawling scenic burial ground is the final resting place of Japan's last shogun.

Museum dedicated to the largest battleship ever built.

This enormous "shamoji" means more to the people of Miyajima than just a way getting rice onto a plate.

One of the world's largest tanks mimics the experience of watching rare whale sharks, giant rays, and deep sea creatures from the ocean floor.

Haunted house kitsch meets Japanese folklore at this theme bar where patrons can “die” and have their own mock funeral.

"Excuse me sir, your submarine is blocking my building."

These seven moai figures are the world's only sanctioned replicas of the Easter Island originals.

A collection of the specialized tools used to construct Japan’s beautiful architecture.

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

An ingenious solution to a tricky engineering problem, this spiraling bridge takes drivers for a dizzying spin.

Watch out for the two-story Godzilla made out of tires.

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

This traditional Japanese-style house doubles as one of James Turrell's colorful works of art.

A museum dedicated to the history of Tokyo's often-overlooked working-class district.

This adorable birdlike police box is designed based on a play on words.

After being lost for decades, this striking mural depicting the atomic bomb covers the wall of a busy Tokyo metro station.

A hub of information on tropical diseases and their treatments.