The legendary birthplace of the Japanese maneki-neko is dotted with hundreds of lucky beckoning cats.

Rows of stone statues are dressed up to mourn children that are lost before birth.

A magical place that lets you play in and explore the world of Studio Ghibli.

This bizarre residential building is the masterpiece of Von Jour Caux, the “Gaudí of Japan.”

A bibliophile's heaven that contains hundreds of bookstores, offering over a third of secondhand books for sale in Tokyo.

Inside the columbarium, thousands of colorful, high-tech Buddhas guard the ashes of the dead.

An enormous pair of straw sandals woven in the traditional way—to keep demons at bay.

Devoted Buddhists can earn enlightenment in the next life by crawling through this symbolic nostril.

This massive wooden building contains a giant Buddha, healing pillars, and tame deer wandering the grounds.

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

The cutest shrine in Kyoto is dedicated to bunnies.

This Kyoto Starbucks takes coffee drinkers back in time.

The groundbreaking Japanese shrine maiden who invented the art of kabuki.

This 700-year-old street food market features baby octopus and soy donuts.

A 1000-year-old shrine in Kyoto with a poorly planned sacred arch.

The infamous 'Incident at Honnō-ji' brought an end to Oda Nobunaga’s attempt to unify a warring Japan.

Although it has never been a secret ninja base, this shrine still has plenty of tricks up its sleeve.

Tokyo’s only Vaudeville-cuckoo clock–steampunk-Victorian curio cabinet time piece.

Steampunk, humanoid sculptures crawl on all fours in a Tokyo plaza.

An unexpected curiosity cabinet hidden within a department store in the Japan Post tower.

Weighing nearly 7 tons, this massive sculpture was carved out of 500-year-old wood and decorated with thousands of jewels.

A massive, photogenic gate designed after a traditional hand drum used in the regional noh

An open-air museum exhibiting a total of 52 century-old buildings, recreating Hokkaido’s “pioneer village.”

Japan’s oldest clock tower has been called one of the country’s most disappointing attractions.