As the aging humans of this Japanese village die off one local artisan is replacing them with eerie homonculi.

Children's literature inside, forest all around.

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

A shrine contains nearly 200 statues of the Buddhist deity Jizo, dressed in bibs by parents who have lost a child.

The divine septet of Japanese fortune gods are rendered in 1,000 year old wood at this peaceful site.

The Buddhist temples of Yamadera, built into a mountain side, feature a viewing deck with sweeping views.

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

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

Japan's largest area of "pink moss" turns the hillside bright pink every spring.

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

A disconnected rotary phone for "calling" lost loved ones offered a unique way of dealing with grief in disaster-stricken Japan.

Largest graveyard in all of Japan surrounds a famous mausoleum.

Closed for decades, this strange symbol of Japan's Expo '70 has finally opened its psychedelic insides to the public.

Oddly touching memorial to a little-remembered nuclear tragedy.

This ruined Japanese stripclub sits half burnt to the ground.

This active volcano's siren song to suicide jumpers forced authorities to build a fence.

An unlikely hit, this museum is dedicated to the inventor of instant ramen and cup noodles.

Be a ninja - or just act like one.

Historical Japanese-Dutch relations are honored with haunted rides and flower fields in this replica town.

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

The largest volcanic caldera in Japan holds an entire city in its maw.

A remarkable lava formation encloses a line of Buddhist statues that can't be accurately counted, according to local mythology.

A Japanese cat island also populated by the descendants of a band of banished samurai.

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