Since we were in Japan during the winter, I had to go see the snow monkeys. I first found out about them from some photos from Art Wolfe, the National Geographic photographer. Nagano is only 90 minutes from Tokyo by Shinkansen and since we got the JR Rail pass for 3 weeks, we were going to see the snow monkeys!
We made it to Nagano, stayed right across the street from the train station, struggled to find open restaurants on New Years Day, ended up at KFC for lunch and an expensive steak place for dinner.
The following morning we took a train, then a bus, then walked for 30 minutes in the snow and ice to get to the snow monkey park. But it was worth it! There were so many monkeys, everywhere, just hanging out, grooming each other, relaxing in the onsen. It was so cool to see them up close, it reminded me of the Galapagos where the animals weren’t afraid of humans.
After the snow monkeys, we went to a temple, searched for some food, then just relaxed and got ready to take the train to Matsumoto the next morning.
Follow Sparkinheart
Follow me
Instagram:
Twitter:
Facebook:
AloJapan.com