A rare festival blending religion, blacksmiths, vagina dentata, sex workers, and the straight-up facts of life.

Japan's largest collection of Western-style mansions in the port city of Kobe includes a recreation of Sherlock Holmes' 221B Baker Street quarters.

An abandoned Art Deco hotel nestled on the side of a wooded mountain.

A 59-ft. robot statue looks over the citizens of earthquake-ravaged Kobe.

An astounding annual light display honors the victims of one of Japan's most devastating earthquakes.

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

This frescoed ancient burial mound is a colorful window into China’s influence in early Japan.

A Japanese train station built around a 700-year-old camphor tree.

Home to the world's oldest wooden building.

The abandoned Japanese amusement park once loomed as a dystopian Disneyland.

Devoted Buddhists can earn enlightenment in the next life by crawling through this symbolic nostril.

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

Each year this Japanese temple overflows with scowling, bearded good luck talismans.

A trio of keyhole-shaped burial mounds restored to their ancient glory.

Would you spend the night in Japan's deepest train station?

A small shrine dedicated to a god of lightning and electronics.

This statue of Buddha has a distinctive hairstyle meant to represent an unfathomably long period of meditation.

An LED art installation composed of 600 poles wrapped in kimono fabric.

Visitors to this museum will discover that kaleidoscopes are much more than toys.

The first location of the eventual video game giant.

This garden located inside a bamboo forest once belonged to a famous Japanese actor.

More than 300 years old, Kyoto's historic "teahouse" still operates as an invitation-only geisha club.

Have a soak at this retro bathhouse, where you will find Japan's first electric bath, tiling from Spain, and wood carvings representing the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

Established over a thousand years ago, this family-run teahouse continues to serve skewers of sweet rice cake to this day.