A whimsical museum dedicated to the mischievous kappa, a mythical cucumber-loving water sprite.

This tiny museum hidden above a restaurant houses thousands of modern and traditional kites.

Near the mouth of the Yodo River, this museum offers visitors six floors of hands-on learning about Osaka's raw sewage.

A collection of more than 1,000 teddies from nearly any profession.

A hub of information on tropical diseases and their treatments.

The small candy-colored ride is the last rooftop Ferris wheel in Tokyo.

This adorable birdlike police box is designed based on a play on words.

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

A museum dedicated to the history of Tokyo's often-overlooked working-class district.

A sobering scientific reminder of the human damage caused by the advent of the nuclear age.

A semi-abandoned replica of Prince Edward Island's Avonlea—in Japan.

A Japanese shrine to dolls.

A strange tribute to all the fallen souls of war.

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

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

Giant sand sculptures of famous people and places are on display near the Tottori sand dunes.

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

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

This little replica of Lady Liberty provides a bit of NYC in a Japanese city.

Be a ninja - or just act like one.

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.

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

This pond is so stunning it looks like you've stepped into one of Monet's masterpieces.