Japan: Nagano and Snow Monkeys

We woke up at an ungodly 5am to get from David's house to the train station with enough time to catch our train. We bought bento boxes from a place at Tokyo Station before getting on the train. A bento box is like a packaged lunch with individual compartments for each different food. Japanese people tend to eat them when they are traveling, so we thought do as the Japanese do. The bullet train to Nagano, included in our JR pass tickets, only took about two and a half hours. Not too shabby.

We arrived in Nagano an hour early for our 9:45am tour start time, and I think we could have arrived later. We waited in the waiting room at the station for a while, keeping warm, but our tour guide was waiting right outside the barriers as soon as we went out. I can't remember how she spelled her name, but it was pronounced similar like "cauzooay." It sounded like "causeway" with more of an accent. She was a really nice woman with great knowledge of the area. She went down to get the rest of the tour group. None of them were together, but they were all arriving on the same train from Tokyo. The tour was only 17 people, so not that big. We didn't have any sort of tour bus or anything, instead, we relied on public transportation and taxis to get around. Our tour guide took care of everything though, so we didn't have to worry about when the trains were or how to get to the stations. I think taking a tour was definitely the best way to do it--it made things much simpler for me, the planner.

The first stop on the tour was Zenkoji Temple. The temple was built in the 7th century, and it houses the oldest Buddha statue in Japan. Neither the monks nor the public are able to view the statue. Instead, there is a replica of it that is still very old. Even the replica is only viewable every 6 years in the Spring. It has and remains a pilgrimage site. In the old days, people used to travel to the temple and leave a pair of straw shoes in hopes of an easy journey back to their homes. The temple was very beautiful, and the tour guide pointed out a few interesting things in the temple and told us some stories of the temple's history. On the side of the temple are 6 Buddha statues. The buddhas are the six guards of the six heavenly realms in Buddhism. Buddhists believe in reincarnation, and a Buddhist is supposed to do good works to reincarnate as either an equivalent form or something above that. For example, a human would not want to reincarnate as an animal because that would be a step back. Each of the guards is responsible for taking care of those within its realm. I had a bit of trouble understanding why this is, but the last statue on the right is the only statue with one foot out.

My excellent fortune that I left at ZenkojiTemple

Our tour guide explained that it is because that is the guard of the hell realm, and he has to be ready to help anyone there immediately. I'm not sure why the guard of the hell realm would care so much about the people there, but I guess he does in Buddhism, and I guess that's nice. Another interesting thing at the temple was the fact that the usual guardians of the temple were not facing each other, as is typical. Instead, they were facing those entering the gates of the temple. The tour guide also showed us a cool abacus outside the temple. Apparently, when you have a really serious prayer or wish, you have to count to 100 100 times on the abacus to make it come true. After we noticed a lot of cow statues at the temple, she also told us a story about an old woman who didn't believe in the power of the temple. One day, this woman's cow ran away and led her directly to the temple. This happened at night, but when she got to the temple, all of a sudden the area was lit up like it was daylight. It was then that the old woman completely changed her mind about the temple, and she believed in it from then on. While we were there, Gianni and I both washed our hands and drank from the temple water in the correct Japanese way. I also paid to get a fortune. This time, instead of just taking one from the box, I had to shake a box full of sticks and then turn it so that one stick popped out of the hole at the end of the box. I got stick number 10. You are then supposed to take one of the fortune papers out of the drawer corresponding to your number. The tour guide read my fortune for me, and, apparently, I can do just about anything this year and have good luck with it. She mentioned marriage, a job change, a new business--so just generally a really great fortune. You are supposed to tie your fortune paper to a string in the temple so that it will come true. Here's hoping mine does! Hope it doesn't matter that I'm not Buddhist.

Nagano's famous soba noodles

After our visit to the temple, we ate lunch at a restaurant nearby. Leading up to the temple, there are just two a long street lined with shops and restaurants. We went to one on the second floor of a building on that street. We were served a rather upscale bento box with all kinds of things in it, including a dessert part of the box with some pudding and fruit. We also got to try the dish that Nagano is famous for, soba noodles or buckwheat noodles. It was a really tasty lunch. We took the public trains about a half an hour to get to the station close to the snow monkey park, and there were taxis to pick us up and take us to the entrance to the mountain path leading to the park.

Beautiful snowy mountain views on our walk to the park

cute baby snow monkey found a piece of trash

some of the monkeys grooming each other in the hot spring

snow monkey chilling in the hot spring

Our tour guide had told us that it takes a half hour to get to the monkey park from the base of the path, and I was kind of worried about walking on a mountain through snow for that long. Fortunately, the path is not steep at all. There were only two inclines the entire time despite the fact that you are walking on a mountain. Also, the snow is packed down so much that it is really easy to walk on. Certain parts were slippery, so you have to be careful, but the staff come in and break those parts up a bit to make it softer and not as compact and slippery. It was really really nice to see snow again. I know everyone in Boston has been crapped on with snow for the last two years, especially this year, but I haven't seen that much snow since before I came to Korea. It was nice to feel at home for once. The path through the mountains was lovely, even when the wind was blowing the snow all over my face. Along the path there were signs about the lifestyle of the monkeys. The male monkeys tend to live alone and will join a community for a short time before leaving again. They will change community groups throughout their lives. They are not involved in the life of their offspring. The females have one baby every other year, and their pregnancies last for only six months. The mothers have very strong bonds with their babies. The monkeys' nests are not permanent. They sleep in trees, but they may move to different areas on different nights. Although it is called a snow monkey park, it is still a very natural environment in which to see the monkeys. They are entirely out in the open, roaming around wherever they please. The reason they are attracted to this area in particular, and the staff can guarantee their presence during the winter, is because they are fed. The monkeys go off into the forest to sleep at night and return in the morning for food. Also, the park has a natural hot spring, where the monkeys like to bathe. In any case, the monkeys are free to come and go as they please, but they are definitely given some incentives to continue to come to the park area. It was really amazing getting to see them in the wild like that. I'm sure they are used to people being around, but they were so completely calm. Some of them would even turn away when you came over with a camera to take their picture. They walk all around you, and we saw one sit on some guys backpack. You aren't really supposed to touch them because I think it would scare them if you tried. The signs towards the park said not to bring food because the monkeys would steal it! Mostly, the monkeys all huddled together for warmth or checked each other for bugs. The ones in the hot spring looked like they were completely chilling out. There were so many people huddled around the hot spring taking pictures, even a film crew doing some recording (not sure for what). As we were leaving the hot spring area, we had to dodge the water being flung by one of the monkeys. He had his butt sticking up in the air as though he was mooning all the people, and he was flicking water from the hot spring at his butt to clean it. It was pretty hilarious. We got to spend a good deal of time taking pictures of the monkeys before heading back to catch the taxis.

Our last stop of the day was a hotel public bath. The public baths at this hotel were filled with the natural hot spring water, similar to what the monkeys in the park had been bathing in. I'm sure it isn't as natural as they say. They probably treat the water, and it was wicked hot! Like all public baths in Asia, you go in and take all your clothes off and sit in the hot tub for a while. Before leaving, you shower off and get all nice and clean. After all the walking we had been doing in Japan and being in the cold mountains all day, it was really nice to relax in the hot tub for a while, even if it did mean getting real friendly with the other ladies on the tour really quick. It felt good to be clean afterwards for the trip back to Tokyo.

Our tour guide was so great, making sure we all got food from the convenience store and got on the right train and in the right seats on our train. She even walked to our train car to say goodbye to us. She was a lovely tour guide. Seeing the snow monkeys on our tour was definitely a highlight of our entire trip to Japan. I'm so glad we sprung for it because it was a once in a lifetime experience. In my opinion, you can't go to Japan in the winter without seeing the monkeys. So incredible.