Weighing nearly 7 tons, this massive sculpture was carved out of 500-year-old wood and decorated with thousands of jewels.

A monk-run winery inside a Buddhist temple celebrates Japan's crown grape varietal.

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

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

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

This incredible mountainside temple is home to intriguing statues of demon-like creatures.

Nestled in an unassuming residential area, this "forbidden forest" is rumored to spirit away those who dare to enter.

This giant seated Bhudda of Healing dates to the 1780s.

A flight of this "ghost staircase" has 40 steps on the way up, but only 39 steps on the way down.

Constructed thousands of years ago, these stone circles offer incredible insight into the lives of the people who built them.

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

One of the tallest statues in the world, and the tallest statue of a goddess in Japan.

This little known mountain has claimed four times as many lives as Everest.

This temple is steeped in local folklore involving a teakettle and a raccoon dog.

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

A mysterious set of tunnels carved in the hills of rural northern Kyushu.

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

One of the world's largest ancient burial mounds.

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

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

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

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

The iconic castle that withstood a magnitude 6.2 earthquake has become a symbol of resilience.

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