Cherry blossom season comes early in this Japanese town where pink flowers line the streets and riverbanks.

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

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

Giant animal sculptures are created with the rice straw leftover from the fall harvest each year.

A derelict New Zealand-themed amusement park in Japan.

The bartenders at this crime-fighting theme cafe are actual private detectives by day.

An anthropological theme park that depicts the cultures of around 20 different countries.

This beautiful Japanese garden is a memorial to the samurai who literally wrote the book on business as martial art.

The giant figure on the back of this turtle-shaped temple actually hides a memorial pendulum.

This seven story Japanese love hotel now stands in ruins.

The Yonaguni Monument, a natural formation or the Japanese Atlantis?

One of the world's largest ancient burial mounds.

With over 12,000 different species of plants, this botanical garden is Japan's oldest and most diverse.

The largest of the Fuji Five Lakes is home to an impressive swan population—some real, some with paddles, and one with an observation deck.

This bridge is so steep it looks like a rollercoaster.

A strange tribute to all the fallen souls of war.

Thirty architectural gems from the 19th- and early 20th-century Tokyo were restored and relocated to this space.

Giant art made in Japanese rice fields.

This mountain's identity is stuck somewhere between a nightmare and a scenic tourist attraction.

Founded over a thousand years ago, this shrine is said to be built on the site of a warlord's harem prison.

Burial mound for the ears and noses of thousands of mutilated Korean soldiers.

These Japanese gardens are blankets of light for dark winter nights.

Elaborate series of tunnels where traces of mass suicide are still visible.

A real-life replica of a home from Hayao Miyazaki's beloved movie "My Neighbor Totoro."