Nagano, Day Two: Snow Monkeys!

The next day (12/27) we traveled to a little mountain town and trekked into a part of an extended valley named Jigokudani Koen, or Hell's Valley Park, named for its resplendent hot springs that boil away even in frigid temperatures.  It was gorgeous, although we did get a lot of snow dumped on our heads along the way.










We went to this snowy, steamy place with one objective: seeing Japanese Macaques, or Snow Monkeys.  These monkeys live in the mountains and come down to bathe in the hot springs almost every day.  In the winter they are very fluffy in their heavy coats.  There were monkeys of all ages jostling each other for space in the springs and the food the park workers put out at noon.

Here are a few of the best pictures of the monkeys in the springs.  You can see all the little family groups among the larger group.  These monkeys are all part of one pack.  There are about 200 of them at present.  There's always an alpha male, who gets his picture displayed in the park entrance lodge.  I'm sure we saw the alpha, but I don't know which one he was.

I paid much more attention to the baby monkeys, as you can see from these photos and the video.  The young ones were interesting to watch as they pawed through the snow, moving snowballs around to search for food, or (in one particularly cute display) playing on ropes.  As these monkeys are closely related to humans, we continuously noted physiological and behavioral similarities between, say, middle school students and these rambunctious creatures.

An old train at Obuse

After seeing the monkeys we hopped back on the train towards Nagano and stopped at Obuse, a quiet, artistic town known for chestnut confections.  We first visited an Ukiyo-e Museum (woodblock prints) dedicated to Katsushika Hokusai, a famous painter of the Edo era.  Hokusai came to Obuse in 1844, when he was 85, and lived out his life as an artist-in-residence painting temple ceilings and festival floats.  We loved it so much we're planning a pilgrimage to Matsumoto to see another such museum. 

After the museum, we went across the street to indulge in chestnut treats.  I ate wonderful, fresh ice cream with chestnut pieces in it that was unbelievable.  Matt ate a chestnut baked into a green tea cake, and a few little chestnut candy treats.  We both had the most delicious apple juice, fresh-pressed from Nagano Prefecture.  We paid for our pleasure a bit more than we're used to, but it was worth it.