Kawaii meets poisonous at this unique art gallery.

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

A moss-covered statue of a Japanese Buddhist deity stands at a quiet temple in downtown Osaka.

Giant sand sculptures of famous people and places are on display near the Tottori sand dunes.

This tiny museum hidden above a restaurant houses thousands of modern and traditional kites.

The largest volcanic caldera in Japan holds an entire city in its maw.

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

The tallest bronze seated statue of the Buddha in Japan.

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

Oddly touching memorial to a little-remembered nuclear tragedy.

Stuck in a bygone era, the oldest subterranean shopping street in Japan hides beneath the popular Asakusa district of Tokyo.

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

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

An astounding annual light display honors the victims of one of Japan's most devastating earthquakes.

This ancient temple is set up to take you on a pilgrimage of self.

A remarkable lava formation encloses a line of Buddhist statues that can't be accurately counted, according to local mythology.

Dedicated to the armor and weapons used by the legendary Japanese warriors.

A steaming, boiling hellscape sources Hokkaido's thermal baths.

Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Dome.

Unusual hexagonal rocks formed by cooling lava named for their resemblance to traditional Japanese tatami mats.

A museum dedicated to the history of Tokyo's often-overlooked working-class district.

A disconnected rotary phone for "calling" lost loved ones offered a unique way of dealing with grief in disaster-stricken Japan.

Abandoned Japanese ghost town gives a glimpse into what our own metropolises may leave behind.

Japan's largest area of "pink moss" turns the hillside bright pink every spring.