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

Existing for more than four centuries, the last of Hakone’s historic teahouses serves a sweet, mold-based rice drink.

The Buddhist temples of Yamadera, built into a mountain side, feature a viewing deck with sweeping views.

This active volcano's siren song to suicide jumpers forced authorities to build a fence.

Giant animal sculptures are created with the rice straw leftover from the fall harvest each year.

White beach sands made of the remains of tiny, star shaped creatures.

This sawtooth mountain range still bears the strangely lovely marks of its history as a medieval quarry.

Experience park where visitors are told to expect the unexpected.

This mysterious medieval grotto holds a grid of sacred wells of unknown purpose.

A rare example of an ancient Japanese hill castle believed to be the fortress of a legendary demon.

This village is home to the largest existing settlement of the Ainu, the Indigenous people of Japan.

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

This giant seated Bhudda of Healing dates to the 1780s.

This little known mountain has claimed four times as many lives as Everest.

This quirky little private museum is home to more than a thousand stones, carved by nature, that resemble human faces.

These Japanese ruins have been brought back to life with elaborately recreated buildings.

This battleship of a building was designed by a famed "mad architect."

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

This shrine dedicated to a legendary swordsman has become a pilgrimage site for the ill and infirmed.

The Yonaguni Monument, a natural formation or the Japanese Atlantis?

A Japanese shrine to dolls.

Nope, not the one in France. The only officially-recognized reproduction of Monet’s garden in Giverny is located in a remote corner of Japan.

This temple is steeped in local folklore involving a teakettle and a raccoon dog.

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