Did I tell you about the monkeys?

I’m getting forgetful in my not so old age and cannot remember if I wrote here about my trip to the snow monkeys in Jigokudani (Hell’s Valley), Nagano or not.

The weekend before last I headed up to Nagano with my friends. It took us just over 3 and a half hours to drive from Toyama to Yudanaka, the place where 12 of us were to bed down in a ryokan for 2 nights.

It was 2 nights of eating, drinking, bathing in hot pools fed by natural hot springs and MONKEYS!

Day 1:

Drive to Yudanaka.

Eat.

Go to public bath.

Go to Karaoke.

Crash out on futons on tatami mats in the ryokan.

Day 2:

Get up.

Hunt down cellphone, left at public bathing house the previous evening.

Head up to Jigokudani where there is an Italian restaurant before heading into the valley.

Walk into the valley. See monkeys.

More bathing.

Sleeeeeeeeeeep glorious sleep.

Day 3:

Get up early.

Drive to Mastumoto Castle.

Check out the castle.

Drive back to Toyama.

So that was the itinerary. Now, about the monkeys…

These monkeys have been living in and around the Jigokundani (Hell’s Valley) for many many years. Jigokudani has geysers and hot pools that Japanese people go to bathe in. It is said that one day in the middle of the 20^th century a woman was bathing in one of these hot pools and a monkey chasing some food that had slipped into the pool jumped in with her. This female monkey apparently liked it so much that she stayed in the water and ate her meal. After this incident more monkeys came to join. The locals decided that this was not entirely healthy for humans and built a bath just for the monkeys further up the valley. This is now known as the monkey park where the monkeys now hang out and are looked after by the locals. The pool is kept clean by the locals who run the park. The monkeys forage for food around the valley and spend time keeping warm in the hot pool. They play and go about their daily routines in and around the park. Humans of course find this quite entertaining and are willing to pay to get in to see them. We pay ￥500 to get in. The monkeys attract many many visitors every year which I think is absolutely awesome.

Below is a slide show of the monkeys.