Monkey-onsen

It is getting colder with each day. The sun in my window is barely enough to sustain the basil, so I decided to end their season in a final harvest. The tomatoes are already past this point, as they decided to end their own season weeks ago. I cut the remaining basil leaves and cooked an early "thanksgiving" Pasta-with-Pesto dish for some colleagues, that could not be beaten. So now that the warm season is officially over, I am sitting in my warm room, thinking about warmer times.

It was only a month ago, that it was warm enough to go up into the woods with a towel, on the search for the infamous spring where monkeys would mingle with the human population. My friend DoZi and I took a five-hour train ride upon ourselves to go up to the monkey park near Yudanaka in Northern Nagano. We had to leave as early as we could, at six in the morning, since I had to be back for work at 4pm. The ride was simple enough, and from where the bus dropped us off, we could walk up the Jigokudani Monkey Park.

Like in any other natural park, there were trails between woods, but the only monkeys we saw were the ones on the signs, keeping up our hopes that we might see some bathing ones at some point. After a half-an-hour walk we finally came to a little stream running down the hills. The water was nice and warm, which was one more good sign. Still, we couldn't see any monkeys. Where the stream joined a bigger one, we could see a few houses between the trees. That must be the onsen, we thought.

When we got down to the valley, there seemed to be a few pools of water, and even a jet of hot steam was shooting into the air. We were not sure if this was what we were looking for, as no signs seemed to indicate either monkeys, or onsen, not to mention a monkey-onsen. Suddenly we saw them! They were lazing around on the bridge, grooming each other's brownish-gray fur. We knew we had arrived.

We walked up the path to a building that seemed to sell tickets of sorts. It was only 500 yen to get in, but the girl at the counter reacted to our mention of an onsen quite startled: "This is not an onsen. It's for the monkeys!" Okay, sure... we thought, and walked through the gates. Someone had told me that there was an onsen where we could bathe, as well as observe the snow monkeys in their natural habitat, and I was determined to get both.

The monkey park had no fences or walls, so the animals of every species could walk freely in and out. Those who looked like they had 500 yen on them were expected the courtesy of paying the entry fee, but other than that there were no limitations whatsoever. Surprisingly, past the ticket office there was a multitude of monkeys laying around on the rocks, or in the shade. Some bigger, some smaller. Real little ones were jumping around on the branches, others were looking for food among the rocks. Some of them were even bathing in the onsen.

So there WAS an onsen! What was that little lady talking about? There was a pool of natural hot water in the middle of the monkey park, and a stream of cooler water was running nearby. They even have their own web cam, for anyone who is interested in checking out the bathing monkeys (almost) live: www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.kp What a luxury for the monkeys. And what about us? We'd been looking forward to bathing all morning! Our desire to sit in the water was only surpassed by our envy of the spoiled monkeys.


We had not come all this way, just to go home without bathing. Indeed, the temperature was wonderfully soothing. It was like heaven on earth. In the water we got to know what it was like to be a creature in God's garden... for about ten minutes. That's how long it took for our pictures to be transmitted around the world, including to the little house where we had paid our entry fee. Suddenly a big guardian-type park employee, armed with a big net, came to chase us out of the water. He didn't say a word, at least not in English, but the the ticket-lady with him kept reminding us of the same thing she had told us earlier: Though this water was an onsen indeed, it was intended for the monkeys, not for us. What a disappointment.

We put on some clothes, and started to leave the park, when we saw the outside onsen on the other side of the stream. Ah-ha, so that's the pool for the Homo sapiens bathers. To get there we had to cross the bridge guarded by the two monkeys, pay another 500 yen at the door, and promise to abide by the standard rules of the onsen. That is to shower first, and not pull the plug once we were done. We happily agreed to everything. The onsen itself was the least developed one I'd been to, but the experience was superb. The water wonderfully soothing, we could overlook the valley, and even see humans and monkeys strolling around. It was like heaven on earth.

Before we decided that we had soaked long enough, a large monkey came and walked along the edge between the pool and the cliff side. How close to nature we were...! On the way out we saw a sign, reminding bathers that sometimes monkeys might come into the outside pool. Okay, the one we saw sure was close enough. So apparently THEY can come into the pool for humans. But WE can't go into theirs... Try to figure that one out! Nevertheless, the monkey park left a good impression, and I decided to return in the Winter, when all the monkeys are bound to sit in the nice warm water.