This brothel-turned-restaurant features plenty of surprises and elaborate, extravagant architecture.

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

This exacting restaurant will charge a fine for every grain of rice you've left behind.

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

A Japanese corporation has turned this small island town into living modern art gallery.

Drinkslinger is an unlikely vocation for a Buddhist monk, but at this Tokyo bar the enlightenment is served in a martini glass.

Colloquially known as “piss alley,” this narrow street filled with tiny bars and barbecue stands looks like it was pulled straight out of “Blade Runner.”

The self-mummified monks of Japan.

Every color in the rainbow awaits.

A 20-meter (65-foot) robot towers over Tokyo Bay.

Once the most densely populated place in the world, this island is now a ghost town.

The magical, mossy forest that inspired Princess Mononoke.

Hot springs monkey spa in the middle of Hell's Valley.

This bar is filled with Star Wars merchandise from around the world, all of it unlicensed knockoffs.

An abandoned giant glass dome sits in the bay in “the Venice of the East.”

A museum dedicated to the least secret spy is actually an attempt to get Hollywood's attention.

A kitsch shrine dedicated to the ogre-slaying folktale hero born from a peach.

Shells collected from over a hundred different countries line the walls, floors and ceilings of this fantasy museum.

"The Dance of Fools" is Japan's largest dance festival.

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

A remote and slightly overgrown park filled with replicas of world landmarks.

Have a soak at this retro bathhouse, where you will find Japan's first electric bath, tiling from Spain, and wood carvings representing the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

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

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