Monkey Business

Location: Nagano & Jigokudani Onsen
Date: Feb 18 and 19, 2007
Info: I remember years and years ago I saw a picture of Japanese monkeys sitting in a natural hot spring in an issue of National Geographic. They looked so relaxed, huddled in a group with the snow falling on the mountains surrounding them. Imagine how surprised and excited I was when I found out you can visit the monkey park in Nagano Prefecture and see them! Nothing was going to stop me from seeing those monkeys! After finding a kickass ryokan online and Elspeth using her amazing Japanese to book it, we headed into the mountains in search of onsen-ing monkeys (and to do some onsen-ing ourselves).

*Just a quick note...I'm slightly terrified of monkeys. I always think of when I was little and my dad, grandfather and I visited African Lion Safari. We saw gangs of monkeys ripping the siding off of the cars...there is something slightly evil about them...


We caught some ridiculously early train (woke up at 5am) so we slept most of the 3 hour train ride. I was able to wake up for a few minutes, snap some pictures of the snowy mountain countryside and then fall back asleep...


Welcome to Nagano! Can you believe the Olympics were held here in 1998 (almost 10 years ago?) It feels like just a couple years ago that the American sports reporters were pronoucing it 'Nagaaano' and I stayed up into the wee hours of the morn to watch curling.

There wasn't any snow in Nagano. But there was rain. We caught the local bus to visit Zenko-ji, a famous temple, which supposedly housed the first-ever Buddha image in Japan. You walk up a street lined with ryokans, galleries and small shrines towards a gate.

Nio-mon gate.


Roku Jizo (below) - Six statues representing the guardians of the six worlds of hell, starvation, beasts, carnage, human beings and heavenly beings that one's soul must pass through.



The main hall of Zenko-ji. Interesting fact: in the basement of the Hondo, the original image of Buddha rested and believers came seeking eternal salvation. Did I mention that it was kept in complete darkness? Today, you can pay to enter, feel your way down a pitch black tunnel until you feel a metallic object, which many believed to be the key to paradise...umm..no thanks. Does anyone else want to skip the creepy Buddhist carnival-like cave of darkness?






I know little kid, the pigeons are scary, especially with all of their incessant coo-ing. And your grandparents were evil for trying to make you go and play with them so that they could take a picture.

Oh my god. Lunch was so delicious. And we were seated right next to the heater. Heaven.


We found the stage (above) behind a parking lot and I almost jumped with joy at the thought of taking a picture standing on the winners' podium. We ran across the lot but alas, the stairs were chained with signs saying it was verboten. Crap. What the heck is the point of having a random left-over podium from the Olympics if you can't take a picture on them?

Across the street from the train station was this monstrosity of a clock. The area is known for growing apples and the next day we saw it strike 3pm. The two birds in the apples move up and down and then each of the massive apples turn and a mechanical bird inside flaps its wings and lights up. While this is happening, the clock blasts music. I feel for the people who work in that building.

We left Nagano and took a private train line to Yudanaka Onsen. Our ryokan (below) was really nice and since it was a Sunday night, it was almost empty.


The best thing about our room: the massage chair. Here's Elspeth testing it out.


The garden and koi pond in the centre of the ryokan.



Dinner: SO MUCH FOOD. First, we were led to our own private dining room. Then the dishes started coming and we couldn't keep up. This area of Japan is known for their beef so our meal included sukiyaki and beef sashimi with ginger and onions. The food was never ending...


Most of it was delicious...but there was the odd thing that wasn't so nice. Above is steamed bamboo, which Elspeth described as having the flavour of 'after-barf'.

Below, is the worlds smallest steak but damn was that Hida beef good. This was the last dish to be served and I was so full by this point that I almost couldn't finish the baby steak. Then I thought of how expensive beef is in the grocery store and how I never eat it....

I wanted to finish my meal with my miso soup but when I opened the bowl I found that they had ruined it by adding the EVIL POND SCUM SEAWEED. ick. So gross and smelly and scummy and slimey...


After dinner we got to use the private outdoor onsen. We walked through the garden and behind a door found a huge cedar bath that looked out into the mountains. It was snowing and cold and the water was deliciously hot. This is the life.


The World's Largest Japanese Breakfast (below)

We also took a dip in the women's outdoor bath. It had a small waterfall and since it had snowed during the night, it looked beautiful. Haha, while we were relaxing, a huge piece of ice/snow fell of the roof and we both looked for some kind of cover....Luckily it slid down the other side of the roof.

Indoor onsen

After a huge breakfast, two baths and a massage we checked out and started our climb up the mountain towards the monkey park. On the way we passed a small shrine.


Monkeys ahead!

The word of the weekend: nukarumi (meaning: MUD)


Our first encounter with a monkey! This guy came walking over the bridge and right up to us...it made me nervous...was it going to attack? Oh no...just looking for food along the river...whew

After walking for over 1/2 hour along a muddy trail, we emerged into Jigokudani Onsen (Hell's Valley). It was creepy with its ramshackled, mining town, old onsen look.

The source.

Now, when I imagined the monkey park I thought I'd see around 25-30 monkeys in a somewhat enclosed area. Nope. There are over 200 monkeys living in the area and they are free to roam! I stopped to look at the mountainside and noticed that it was moving...there were monkeys everywhere! Running up and down the mountain, along the river, on the buildings...they were EVERYWHERE!



National Geographic is so sneaky. They want you to think the onsen is some natural spring that the monkeys found and then a photographer had to sit silently for hours, slowly approaching until they could get the perfect shot....Lies...all lies...






The monkeys actually seem to enjoy the attention. They hang out along the side of the bath where all of the photographers stand. There was one insanely obnoxious N.American tourist who wouldn't shut up, stood in everyone's photos and put his camera right into the monkeys' faces...I was not-so-silently praying that the monkey would grab his camera and throw it in the onsen. Or that he would slip in the nukarumi and fall into the river.


In one photo I managed to capture Elspeth, the monkey and her favourite kind of Japanese broom! I am amazing.

Didn't your mother teach you anything!? Don't stick your tongue on a freezing cold pole! Haven't you seen A Christmas Story???

Please don't attack me. Oh, and look at the camera, won't you?

I wanted to buy some postcards so we went into the information building. Otherwise known as taxidermy hell. This is a Japanese Serow. Note how the poor thing is missing an ear, its front is torn open and its eyes are looking in very different directions.

But most terrifying of all was the squirrel...or what might have been a squirrel about 20 years ago before the moths and bugs chewed it apart and ate it's eyes.

All in all, it was an amazing experience. The monkeys didn't attack me or steal my wallet and they were almost cute, cuddling in their onsen. I mean, seriously, who doesn't like a good onsen!?



Here's some video of the MONKEY PARK