A pagan tradition of draping trees with rags eerily lives on.

The location of the Bridge of Death and the Gorge of Eternal Peril in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

Now famous as the "Harry Potter bridge," this impressive concrete viaduct has long been an icon in its own right.

These fantastically named natural pools look like something out of a Scottish myth.

This faux-seedy Japanese arcade is made up to look like a maze of alleys straight out of a cyberpunk dystopia.

The bamboo that helped Thomas Edison develop a longlasting lightbulb.

The world's shortest escalator doesn't seem to have any reason to exist other than to hold a world record.

One of the largest producers of MSG in the world welcomes visitors to its Kawasaki factory with an albino panda named Aji-Kun.

A bronze statue dating back as far as 1252, still has remnants of gold on its right cheek from ancient gilding.

Open since 1690, this former teahouse makes “strength mochi” based on the centuries-old recipe.

An ancient mountain-cut pass runs largely forgotten in the suburbs of Kamakura.

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

Up on the iconic Tsutenkaku Tower sits an American mascot that became Osaka’s own lucky god.

This temple is home to a group of Buddha statues made from thousands of bones and ashes of the deceased.

A Japanese fertility god in the shape of a large phallus.

Watch out for the two-story Godzilla made out of tires.

A rare festival blending religion, blacksmiths, vagina dentata, sex workers, and the straight-up facts of life.

Japan's first train station is also the site of Godzilla's first destructive visit to the nation.

This historical theme park celebrates all things noodle.

This retro izakaya street is a unique legacy of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

A place to eat for on-the-run agents and espionage enthusiasts.

The bugs crawling down the front of this office building are almost as big as a '68 VW Beetle.

This was once the largest four-sided clock in the world (yes, even bigger than Big Ben).

The largest self-built castle in the U.S., six decades in the making.