REPORT OF JIGOKUDANI MONKEY PARK IN NAGANO PREF.

REPORT OF JIGOKUDANI MONKEY PARK IN NAGANO PREF.

Hello from Tokyo!
This is Kaho from Hankyu Travel DMC Japan.

Today let me introduce Jigokudani Yaen-koen (snow monkey park) I visited this March.  
Jigokudani Yaen-koen is a monkey park in Nagano Prefecture and famous for “snow monkeys” in winter.  You can see wild monkeys very close there.

From Tokyo, you can take Shinkansen (bullet train) to Nagano Station and then change to express bus to Snow Monkey Park bus stop.  It takes approx. 3 hours from Tokyo Station to Snow Monkey Park bus stop.

Jigokudani Yaen-koen is located far from town in the mountain, so you cannot reach there directly by car or public transportation.  
From Snow Monkey Park bus stop, it takes about 40 minutes on foot.
For me it was the first time to visit there, so actually it took me an hour to get there.  
The way to Jigokudani Yaen-koen in March was still covered with melting snow and very slippery.  Please make sure to put ice grippers on your shoes or wear snow boots!

Going up the stairs, finally you arrive at Jigokudani Yaen-koen.  
In the park there is no fence between monkeys and you, so you can see wild monkeys really close.  
It is famous for “bathing monkeys” in winter, so I waited for a while to take a picture of bathing monkeys.  But unfortunately, it was too warm for them to bathe in the hot spring on that day...  
Anyway, it was very interesting to see monkeys sitting by the hot spring and grooming each other.

When you visit Japan in winter, why not visit Jigokudani Yaen-koen and see the snow monkeys?