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

Nine Gardens in one—with tea service.

This pair of small sea rocks has been "wed" using rope and ancient Shinto tradition.

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

Experience park where visitors are told to expect the unexpected.

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

This ancient shrine has been rebuilt every 20 years since the eighth century.

A calico cat named Tama was the wildly popular Super Station Master at this train stop in southeast Japan.

Largest graveyard in all of Japan surrounds a famous mausoleum.

A lesser-known sister to Paris's world-famous museum, located within a Buddhist sculpture paradise.

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

Birthplace of the Tendai sect and home to the marathon monks.

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

Twelve hundred stone carvings guard this off-the-beaten-path Buddhist temple.

This neighborhood thoroughfare is haunted by dozens of homemade monsters.

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.

The cutest shrine in Kyoto is dedicated to bunnies.

An ancient Greek physician is honored as a god at this hole-in-the-wall shrine.

One of Kyoto's oldest food establishments has supplied soba noodles to temple priests and the Imperial Palace.

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

This 700-year-old street food market features baby octopus and soy donuts.

This kitsch-forward diner is dedicated to an almost-forgotten “one-cent” prototype of okonomiyaki.

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