Japan has a sandbar so perfect people bend over backward just to see it right. Amanohashidate, Bridge to Heaven, Miyazu, Kyoto Prefecture. 3.6 kilometers of white sand and pine trees stretch across Miyazu Bay, linking two shores like a brush stroke laid across the water. Climb to the viewpoint at Kasamatsu Park. Turn your back to the view. Bend forward and look between your legs. Matanozoki, the upside-down look. Suddenly the pine-covered sandbar floats above the sea like a dragon rising into the sky. Locals have done this since the Edo period. Children giggle at the posture. Grandparents demonstrate without a word, and everyone copies, laughing at the same ridiculous line of green and white. About 8,000 pine trees line the bar. You can walk the full length in an hour, sea breeze on both sides, ferry bells in the distance. A Japanese family and visitors from across the ocean stand together at the railing, bent over, grinning at the dragon they can finally see. Turns out heaven was horizontal all along.