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

Japan's first automaton went missing, only to be revived by the Osaka Science Museum.

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

450 dead and frozen fish, proudly on display in Japan.

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

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

This 400-year-old sweet shop serves a delicacy some have described as "edible incense."

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

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

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

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

Founded over a thousand years ago, this shrine is said to be built on the site of a warlord's harem prison.

Burial mound for the ears and noses of thousands of mutilated Korean soldiers.

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

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

These Japanese gardens are blankets of light for dark winter nights.

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

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

The tallest bronze seated statue of the Buddha in Japan.

Established over a thousand years ago, this family-run teahouse continues to serve skewers of sweet rice cake to this day.

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

This pair of small sea rocks has been "wed" using rope and ancient Shinto tradition.

Steaming blood-red hot spring from hell.

A railway station takeout shop sells boxed meals in containers shaped like trains and snowmen that hold the country’s abundant regional delicacies.