This museum is dedicated to the cultural history of tobacco and salt, once monopolized in Japan.

Blowtorches, tuna, and a jolly, chain-smoking proprietor mark this beloved street-food stand.

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

Founded in 1880, this humble brewery still practices a disappearing technique of sake-making.

Discover the past, present, and future of packaging in this unique Japanese museum.

This “peasant café” in the middle of Tokyo re-creates the atmosphere of the Japanese countryside.

Disaster prevention apartment blocks in Sumida Ward are designed to save as many as possible in the face of the inevitable.

Museum dedicated to the largest battleship ever built.

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

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

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

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

It's bad manners to eat and drink on the subways of Tokyo, unless the train is this bar. 

This Kyoto Starbucks takes coffee drinkers back in time.

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

"Bug Bug" Land, a natural park for beetle watching, still hasn't fully recovered from Fukushima's nuclear disaster.

The only thing sweeter than the potatoes is the canine proprietor of this roadside stall.

This historic hydroelectric power plant in Japan has been preserved and is open to the public.

An eerie maze of industrial factories looks like something out of a dystopian sci-fi.

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.

Modern Japanese museum is buried by snow annually.

The largest collection of model trains in the world is actually run using full-size locomotive technology.

The traditional houses along the coast of this charming Japanese fishing village allow people to sleep above the sea.

A network of sandy streets lined with verdant fukugi trees weaves throughout this tiny seaside town.