Wednesday 14 January – Hakuba, Nagano and the Jigokudani monkey park

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day for our last morning in Hakuba. There had been plenty more snow overnight and the trees were well and truly laden with snow, but there was a beautiful blue sky and the sun was shining.

It would have been a nice day to go skiing, but sadly we had to pack up and head off to Nagano city. It was about minus 4 outside but not too windy so a great weather day. The kids were a bit sad there was no more skiing but we still had plenty of adventures left in Japan.

Farewell to Hakuba…..

It was the last breakfast in the cottage and the dreaded packing up, but we had a fun day ahead planned.

Our front door pile of snow was huge. The continued snow fall had led to plenty sliding off the roof to add to the pile over the last few days.

The snowman Zinnia and I built the previous day was also still standing. We waved goodbye to him as Hiroko picked us up and drove us to the bus terminal.

The lines for the 10.10am bus were huge but Hiroko had assured us there was no need to book. Sure enough they just kept bringing coaches around so we all got seats on the second one (at least 3 went in this time slot).

We settled in for the hour and 15 minute trip back to Nagano station. Soren wasn’t feeling well so slept on me most of the way back.

The snowy views coming through the mountains were fabulous on such a nice day. At one point our coach driver did some emergency braking on the snow and ice that caused a lot of luggage to go flying. He did then pull over as soon as possible and apologise to everyone profusely. A car had pulled out in front so it wasn’t even his fault, but in typical Japanese style he had to apologise.

Once back at Nagano station we picked up our shinkansen tickets for a couple of days time and grabbed some snacks from the nearest convenience store. Although Anto forgot to get any for me while I was minding the pile of bags. Luckily he did get some hot coffees, which was appreciated as it was freezing at the station.

Car time in Nagano!

We then had a snowy and icy (thankfully short) walk over to pick up our hire car for the couple of days we were in Nagano. We had decided to get a car for this section of the trip in Nagano prefecture, as while there is public transport available all the things we wanted to see were very spread out so it was going to be easier being able to drive. For the first 2 and a bit weeks in Japan we’d relied solely on public transport.

We’d booked a car before leaving Australia but we weren’t entirely sure which car we’d end up with and whether we’d fit all the kids and luggage at the same time. Our car did somehow fit our luggage and all of us, although it was a lot easier when the bags weren’t in the car, so a kid could be shoved in the back row. We had an agenda for the afternoon, so we weren’t keen on doing trips back and forward to the hotel, shuttling luggage.

After the lengthy explanations by the car rental staff of how everything worked, we were ready to head off. Thank goodness for a GPS in English and Winter tyres on the car as there was plenty of snow everywhere.

The first stop was the Mercure Nagano, where we were staying for the night. We dropped all the luggage, bar our day packs and made some room in the car. Despite the hotel seeming half empty, we weren’t going to be able get into our room until 3pm at check in time. Very Japanese. Luckily we didn’t care as we we had monkeys to go see. They did have an excellent self-serve luggage storage area though.

It was then a 50 minute drive off to the Jigokudani Monkey Park. The area around Nagano city is beautiful. One town runs into the next town and there are huge snow laden mountains surrounding the valley. The monkey park is up one of the mountains, so we had a very scenic drive out to the park.

The last section of the drive is particularly pretty and it was a bonus getting some countryside views on the way to the main attraction.

Monkey hot chocolate…

By the time we reached the Jigokudani car park it was now 2pm and everyone was keen to stop for some lunch. A cafe near the entrance got Zinnia’s attention with monkey hot chocolates – they were a tourist scam but super cute, so we let her have one 🙂

Continuing with the non-healthy but tasty food theme, Soren and Zinnia shared an apple dessert pizza for lunch. It was a long time since breakfast and obtaining vegetarian food in Japan has been challenging but I even found some vegetarian approved tempura. Only snack size, but hey it was food.

Anto and Astrid decided on something a little more substantial and Anto had a wrap and Astrid some fries. We had to eat fast as we had quite a walk to see the monkeys.

The icy walk in….

The walk into the park is known for being slippery and icy and we had our snow boots on in preparation. Before we even got to the entrance we saw plenty of people sliding around. The temperatures were such that there was the constant freezing and melting of snow and ice, making it very slippery at times. We had this problem on our last trip to Oslo, even in snow boots.

It’s about a 2km walk in to the monkey park and most of it was fine in snow boots, aside from 2 very dicey sections. These did have ropes to assist but they were still a little scary. We saw plenty of people attempting the walk in sneakers and they were spending a lot of time sliding on their butts.

Most of the walk was very scenic through the forest, but there were huge drops off the edge of the trail and lots of mud, so we were glad we had decent boots on. We were feeling pretty smug as we were crunching along at a fair clip of pace past people struggling in slidey sneaker or pretty shoes with heels.

The monkey park is part of the Joshinetsu Kogen National Park, and is located in the valley of the Yokoyu-River, in the northern part of the Nagano prefecture.

There were plenty of information signs along the way giving us information about the local flora and fauna. The ‘bear in area’ signs were not the kind of fauna we were keen on seeing up close but apparently it wasn’t a problem during the day while there were plenty of tourists around 🙂

There is an onsen, Korakukan Onsen right near the monkeys, which is pretty popular with tourists. We saw some people in the outdoor pools enjoying the views.

This is the guesthouse and onsen where the monkeys first observed and copied the behavior of soaking in the hot spring

Snow monkeys galore….

We made it past the onsen and to the monkeys about 3.30pm. The monkeys come down to use the hot springs during daylight hours and in Winter the park closes at 4. We were hoping we weren’t going to be too late to see monkeys today, but as we approached, sure enough there were plenty of monkeys playing in the snow.

All the monkeys are wild Japanese Macaques, which are also known as Snow Monkeys. The park is located in the forest that is part of the monkeys natural habitat. The monkeys come out of the forest down towards the water but all around the paths and areas near the pool.

The monkeys roam the forest and are free to leave the park at any time. There is no guarantee that monkeys will be at the hot springs at all times, although there is a live webcam to check whether they are currently around. As we needed to visit the park this afternoon around our other activities, we were just hoping for the best. Luckily there were no shortage of monkeys!

The park has one man-made pool around which the monkeys gather and then enter the thermally heated water to bathe.

Despite the late afternoon hour there were still plenty of tourists around, ready to get their selfies with the monkeys.

It was absolutely fascinating watching the monkeys interact with each other. They are accustomed to humans and while you can’t touch them or feed them, they were completely unphased about the crowds watching them relax in the warm water. A few were even showing off 🙂

We had a great time watching them play in the snow, wash themselves with snow and then run down to the hot springs to warm up.

Here we are with plenty of monkeys just hanging out enjoying their afternoon swim!

They were loving chilling in the hot water and were so unfussed by people staring at them. You weren’t allowed to be within 1 metre of a monkey and if they wanted to walk past you just got out of the way. The monkeys knew who was boss!

If you just stood and watched them bathing you could get some fabulous photos. My camera got a pretty good workout, even if my hands were freezing!

We could have watched them all day, and the babies were particularly cute. It was a treat watching the babies with their mums.

As the monkeys emerged from the water, they were wet and bedraggled, which was an amusing sight.

As it was approaching closing time the crowds really thinned out. Meanwhile there were plenty of monkeys roaming around. We were constantly having to jump out of the way as they wandered past.

The babies seemed to particularly enjoy playing in the snow.

The kids all adored watching the monkeys both in and out of the water. The monkeys were at times so relaxed they were just napping in front of us.

These guys were definitely 100% adorable!

We could have watched the monkeys all day. Sadly the park was closing and we were all rather cold as it was minus 4 degrees. So even with gloves and coats on we were feeling a bit chilly with all the standing around.

We saw all the monkeys leaving for the night as we were walking out, off for bed and back into the forest.

As we head into the visitor centre (and tourist shop) on the way out, we also a couple of monkeys, including a baby up a snow-laden tree!

As we made our way out towards the trail back to the carpark, we were at least glad we hadn’t done the whole snowy and icy walk in, only to be turned away before seeing the monkeys as the park was closing. A few unlucky tourists had that experience and then had the walk back out with having seen no monkeys!

As we wandered back past the onsen there were still a few people out enjoying onsen, and plenty of monkeys scampering back up the hill under the late afternoon sun.

It was a cold walk back, but we’d all thoroughly enjoyed the monkeys. This was one activity Soren really wanted to do on this Japan trip. We all agreed the monkeys in the hot springs were definitely cool. An afternoon well spent!

We made it back to the main car park without anyone falling on the ice in the slippery sections and no hands entirely freezing off.

A sunset drive back into Nagano city…

We had to rid our boots of a lot of muddy snow before getting back into our car. Luckily there were some water stations in the car park as the mud problem seemed to be common. We’d spied this on the way in.

The drive in had been scenic and on the way back down the mountains we were treated to a setting sun and some more amazing views across Nagano.

After negotiating more Japanese toll roads and mountain passes we were back to the Mercure. Luckily we were at least driving on the correct side of the road here (for us), which made the trip a tad easier than when you have to drive in both snow and on the ‘wrong side’ of the road in one hit.

A warm and tasty dinner….

During the drive back Astrid had used her phone time, and internet skills, to search for a dinner location for the hungry masses. She found a restaurant a few hundred metres away from the Mercure that had very cheap and well rated food. As usual we weren’t sure on the status of vegetarian options for me but we thought we’d give it a go.

With limited Japanese we verified there was very little I could eat other than some eggplant (which was tasty) and rice and eggs we cooked ourselves. The others enjoyed ramen bowls, freshly cooked to order egg rolls, and an array of side dishes all for a very cheap price. It turned out to be a good find for the non-vegetarians of the family.

Onsen time..

Once back at the hotel we found our bags and were up to our rooms where we found our nicely laid our Yukatas (traditional unlined Japanese kimono). This was the first hotel we’d stayed in since arriving in Japan, having been in Airbnb apartments for the whole trip up until now. The novelty of an actual hotel was real. Zinnia was pretty keen on the giant stuffed monkeys at hotel reception.

Nagano prefecture has over 200 onsen areas, which is the second most in all of Japan. The level of geothermal activity means there are no shortage of onsens. The Mercure has an onsen free for guests so we put our Yukata on and head down to do an onsen. We hadn’t done onsen before so were keen to try the experience.

While you don’t need to wear yukata down to the onsen, we figured we might as well embrace the full experience. They were very comfortable!

The hotel even had kid sized yukata available. Zinnia looked super cute!

Traditional onsen are gender segregated as no swimwear is allowed. You must thoroughly was and rinse before entering the hot water in the shower stations, and like Iceland the expected procedures are well communicated.

The Mercure onsen area had very nice heated shower stations and plenty of space to store our belongings. There were inside and outside baths available so we tried both. The water was super hot so we didn’t last all that long but after some bathing in the warm (OK insanely hot water) we did utilise the many lovely lotions and creams and enjoyed the whole experience. It turns out the boys also had a good time in their onsen area, and we all definitely warmed up after a rather cold afternoon out with the monkeys.

Late night drinks and bar snacks……

Zinnia was zonked after a long day and Soren was also rather tired so they were off to bed. As 5 of us don’t fit in one hotel room, we had 2 rooms that were next to each other, but not adjoining. Astrid was claiming not to be tired and begged to go down to the hotel lounge drinks that didn’t start til 9pm.

We agreed she could go for a short time, so Astrid and Anto went down to check out the drinks while I stayed in the room with Zinnia. Anto messaged that there was an awesome array of local infusions and a cocktail bar and some bar snacks that were vegetarian so I could actually eat. This sounded like music to my ears, So then we tag teamed until we sent Astrid up to keep an eye on a sleeping Zinnia while we sat around in the lounge. Anto decided to be like most of the people and wear his Yukata to the drinks. They are supremely comfortable so we understand the attraction!

Up next….

A very scenic trip to Togkushi shrine up Mount Togakushi, followed by Zenko-Ji temple, the very awesesome Nagano Olympics Museum and a night at a Ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn) with some amazing food.