Tragic reminders of the 1945 firebombing campaign over Tokyo still haunt this bridge.

A temple made famous by Japanese Buddhist monks who sacrificed themselves at sea.

This 14th-century temple is also known as the "Temple of the Golden Pavilion" for its gorgeous gilded reliquary hall.

Japan's longest-running music festival takes place on an isolated butterfly-shaped island.

Founded in 1880, this humble brewery still practices a disappearing technique of sake-making.

These unconventional "tub boats" let locals row around the island's turbulent coast.

The last remaining predreadnought battleship in the world has been a museum for nearly a century.

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

Sidle into a side alley for a taste of sumo wrestlers' traditional hot-pot soup, in a tiny restaurant founded by a former competitor.

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

This ancient burial site was once thought to be the home of a race distinctive to Ainu folklore.

A bovine sumo match in which both bulls live to fight another day.

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

Museum dedicated to the largest battleship ever built.

This “peasant café” in the middle of Tokyo re-creates the atmosphere of the Japanese countryside.

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

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

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

"Excuse me sir, your submarine is blocking my building."

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

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

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

It's bad manners to eat and drink on the subways of Tokyo, unless the train is this bar. 

An ingenious solution to a tricky engineering problem, this spiraling bridge takes drivers for a dizzying spin.