Yuki Suki Saru

If you often watch wildlife documentaries then the chances are you’ve already seen the famous Japanese Snow Monkeys; lounging in the natural hot springs with a light dusting of fresh snow on their heads. I know I’d seen them on TV several times, and now having the chance to see them with my own eyes it seemed worth travelling the several hours required to get to Nagano Ken. So, with that in mind we set off about mid-day Friday for Nagano city (a local train to Kyoto, a Shinkansen to Nagoya and a Super-express train to Nagano).

The monkeys actually live another train ride out from the prefectural capital, but we were spending a night in Nagano city first to check out a local festival: for two nights parts of the old town are illuminated by candles and lanterns guiding visitors up the hill to the main temple.

Each building of the temple complex was also illuminated with huge lighting rigs in various colours; such as a strong red on the main gate or a yellow hue for the bell tower which was really atmospheric.

This was another nice example of a purely aesthetic ‘festival’, which does seem like a very Japanese way of doing things – there were also a lot of things on display recalling the time when Nagano hosted the Winter Olympics…. But having no interest in Sports whatsoever I didn’t take pictures of any of those things :-) Though I did snap a few random interesting things – like Haru getting her head eaten, a totally random London double-decker bus (converted to a small café) and a happy colon advertising… well, God knows what!

And my Patio (I didn't even know I had a Patio!).

The next morning we got on another train and headed out to Yamanouchi, which is a small place on the edge of the mountains.

Getting off the train the first thing you see is –

And you realise that apart from the hot onsen resorts and the Snow Monkeys there isn’t much to attract people here, which is why there are so many signs and references to the monkeys everywhere.

However, trains, buses and even the ‘Snow Monkey Taxi’ have their limits - and the last part of the route to the monkey park you have to walk.

As we got higher into the woods we began to see signs of both the hot springs and the monkeys.

and once you get into the actual park it’s really easy to get up close and personal with the monkeys.

The troop that goes to this onsen consists of about 200 monkeys, though I guess we saw less than half that number. They are free to roam, but come to the Onsen almost every day and are totally indifferent toward the many, many visitors; neither approaching them for food or running away unless you get really to close.

The downside of this is that the place isn’t as remote and wild as my romantic imagination had pictured it, the upside is that you can get some really good close up pictures (even if you are trying to work around all the other visitors). So, here is what you’ve been waiting for – Yuki Suki Saru (Snow loving monkeys!)

When we'd had enough of living monkeys, we had a quick look at the dead ones on display in the hut that served as ticket window, gift shop and small exhibition.

Then it was time to drive back to the hotel.... but there was a bit of snow on the car and Haru couldn't dig it out either....

... so we had to walk back again!

Luckily we had a night booked at a big local onsen resort ourselves so we could soak just like the monkeys... and I'll report about that next time :-)