Hidden under an unassuming soccer field outside of Tokyo lies a massive column-filled chamber like something out of a video game or an action movie. And indeed, this cavern has been used as a fantastic setting for super hero movies, but its purpose is very practical: flood prevention.

A cameraman for Fuji TV waits between shots while filming a TV show in the huge cave which lies near the end of an extensive anti-flooding system. The system diverts water from swollen rivers into a 6.3 kilometer-long tunnel. The tunnel ends in this cavern where potentially-surging water pressure can be controlled before it is pumped out into another river that can handle the water. Each of the pillars is 18 meters high and weighs 500 tons.

The remains of dried dirt cracks near stairs leading down into a 72 meter-deep shaft that is used to contain excess water before it flows into the cavern. When the system is not in use, and the water is drained, the area is open to tourists.

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Motorcycles and Formula One race cars fill the display floors of the Honda museum in Motegi, Tochigi, Japan.

Steam surrounds a worker in Hakone, Japan, as he prepares to extract 黒玉子, or black eggs, from the sulfurous water of a mountain hot spring. The eggs boiled in the water take on a black color from the sulfur. According to legend, eating one of these eggs adds five years to your life.

Steam rises from a hot spring on a mountain in Hakone. The high sulphur content of the area gives the landscape an dark orange tint. The picture was taken from a cable car suspended above the mountain.

Artist Motoi Yamamoto’s “Forest of Beyond” installation is seen from above in the Hakone Open-Air Museum. The artist spread individual lines of salt on the ground to create the room-sized exhibit.

The ceiling sounds like the sky threatening to rain as trains thunder by on tracks overhead. Ticket gates in the distance whine with the constant “beep-beep” of passengers entering and exiting with electronic cards. Eyes look to the ground, look at cell phones, or look for a quicker path through the crowds. People here in the center of the station either run or walk. Few stand still. This is Shinjuku Station in central Tokyo. It is the busiest train station in not only Japan, but in the world. More than 3 million people travel through the station everyday, rushing to transfer to trains, buses, jobs, stores, and homes.

But all this commuting may have its downsides. A study in the Scandinavian Journal of Economics suggests that longer commuting time translates to a decrease in happiness, and in a recent survey, Japanese reported having among the longest commuting times in the world. Squeezing into packed trains for long rides may actually be squeezing the fun out of life.

Here the video and still images of commuters in Shinjuku Station are squeezed and stretched as well. Commuters passed by blank panels of lights in the station that are usually used to display advertising. Using a long shutter speed, the camera captured a distorted picture of the travelers as they rushed around at what seems like the speed of light.

Some of these photos were published on the Sankei Shimbun website. And you can check out the Japanese translation of the story after the jump.
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A man walks through torii gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan. The gates lead up a mountain toward various shrine buildings. Many of the thousands of torii gates are donated by companies and individuals.

This is sort of the standard picture people take of Kinkaku-ji, or the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. But there you go. It’s a pretty thing.

A big rock and a smaller rock and lots of very tiny rocks. This is a zen garden. The garden at Ryōan-ji is actually pretty large, and there are 15 of these main rocks surrounded by moss. The rocks are cleverly arranged so that you can only see 14 of them at any time. When you achieve enlightenment, you can see the 15th rock. So I’m just going to assume birds are enlightened.

Osaka Castle looms over the moat surrounding it in the middle of Osaka, Japan’s third-largest city. The original castle, destroyed a number of times since first being built in the late 1500′s, played an important role in unifying Japan in the 1600′s. Today the reproduction of the castle features a modern museum in the interior. There’s nothing really historic inside unless they had elevators in the 1600′s. It’s actually kind of depressing.

The intersection of art and fish is currently on exhibit at the Art Aquarium in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district. Full of exotic-looking fish and even more exotic looking aquariums, this aquatic gallery is a good place to take a date or buy an overpriced cocktail.

A pair of goldfish swim in a tank lit with colored lights.

A trio of fish tanks comprise the aptly named Zen Aquarium.

Sena watches a goldfish swim in one of the many small tanks that lined a long hall in the venue.

After leaving the long hallway of small fish tanks, visitors turn the corner and are greeted by a series of giant tanks, colorful lights, and a DJ.

Some of the fish were absolutely shocked at the price of a beer. Shocked!

Another room featured goldfish dancing in lace-lined containers. All these fish make me want to go eat some sushi. Sushi is art, too, right?