High up in the mountains of Yamanouchi, Nagano prefecture, there resides a particular troupe of Japanese macaques that have gained a lot of fame since the creation of their own personal hot spot. Having had curious monkeys begin stepping into the tourist-filled Korakukan, a nearby hot spring resort, the park needed a way to address potential health concerns with monkeys bathing with humans in outdoor baths. So, they created a monkey specific pool, only a stone's throw from the Korakukan pool, that pumps in the valley's geothermic water and is regularly maintained. Since then, the monkeys have developed a system of dominance over which monkey gets to bathe and who doesn't. In the winter, the troupe visits the bath every single day. 

It's important to understand the the monkeys live here freely. They are wild and untamed animals of the national park. This is not a zoo; nor is it a petting zoo. It is simply an opportunity to walk amongst the troupe and observe their bathing behaviors, and that's exactly what my fiancée and I did two weekends ago. 

We took a shinkansen to Nagano Station and got on the Nagano-Dentetsu Line train bound for Yudanaka. This is the final station on the line. Getting to the park will then take either a taxi or a bus - all of which seem a little limited. Still, there should be a bus heading to the Yokoteyama Ski Resort that stops at the Snow Monkey Park stop. Most of what will be waiting outside the station are private vans heading to resorts. We opted for an inexpensive hot spring ryokan - the Minshuku Miyama. Happy that we did and especially considering that the hotel provided a dinner option as there are few other restaurants or convenient stores around. Two nights of these cozy, private Japanese dinners in bath robes followed by a beautiful outdoor bath in the falling snow cured all previously existing worries. Even more so, it was a fantastic base for getting to the park. This is a highly recommended method. 

Heading to the trail entrance, there are actually two food stops - a beer/snack restaurant called The Farmhouse and a surprisingly affordable and delicious cafe called Enza Cafe. Either may be a good place to start considering that the park is only accessible on foot. Even as far as a car can go, entering the park still requires a thirty minute hike up the mountain. However, the pathway is always freshly plowed, and the hike isn't very steep. Still, this is the only way to the monkeys in the winter. The entrance fee beyond the little gift shop is ¥800.

Once to the river, monkeys start appearing along the trail - mostly digging through snow looking for food. Beyond Korakukan, the monkeys start appearing in groups of ten and twenty. They can be seen playing near the steam vents along the Yokoyu River. Across the manmade bridge is the macaque-only pool. It's here that we began to realize just how intertwined we'd become with their habitat. Adult monkeys, baby monkeys, sometimes together would walk right past you - even between your legs. They're completely unbothered by the presence of people. As monkey drama inevitably unfolds throughout the visit, you being to realize that they're more afraid of each other (the alphas) than you. At one point, a curious juvenile wandered where he shouldn't have and ran behind my legs for cover! It's amazing to be an observer in their world. The blissful euphoria of wandering with them makes it easy to forget about the frigid temperature. By the late afternoon, the monkeys will begin making their way back up the mountain to huddle together in the trees.

Given that the monkeys call the valley home, you can visit them any season. Winter may be the ideal time to catch them in the bath, but the troupe is otherwise regularly roaming no matter the time of year. Be sure to add Jigokudani to your post-pandemic travels. Not a single regret in sight!