Where to see wild monkeys in Japan?
May 4, 2009, 2:21 am
#1
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Where to see wild monkeys in Japan?
I did do some research, but I was hoping for some additional advice.
It seems there is a place near Nagano, a "Monkey Park" ?
Is this the only place to interact with wild monkeys in Japan or is this just the best/most known place?
Also I'm a little confused in the things I read, are the monkeys there year round? Like will they be there in a few weeks? Or are they only there in the Winter? I could not find clear information on that.
It seems there is a place near Nagano, a "Monkey Park" ?
Is this the only place to interact with wild monkeys in Japan or is this just the best/most known place?
Also I'm a little confused in the things I read, are the monkeys there year round? Like will they be there in a few weeks? Or are they only there in the Winter? I could not find clear information on that.
May 4, 2009, 3:45 am
#3
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I found this response to be extremely useful
from this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...l#post10221294
Of course, I found the return journey to Nagano by bullet train to be hideously expensive!
The monkeys will be at Jigokudani every day, perhaps the only place where you are pretty much guaranteed to see them 'in the wild'. There are other places to see wild monkeys, but never with certainty (an example would be the mountains behind the Miyajima shrine near Hiroshima)
The more you know about them before your visit, the more you will get out of your visit there. The surroundings are quite spartan and there is nothing laid on to 'entertain' you the visitor, nor much to inform you. The interactions between the monkey tribe members are only fascinating if you have a mind to see/interpret them that way.
For anyone who can see BBC iplayer, this makes a worthwhile and fascinating primer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hm9j5
(Available until the 13th May 09)
I took my niece up there last October. She had professed an interest in visiting Japan for a number of years so for a birthday trip we visited Tokyo, Nagano, and the Shiga Kogen area. We took the Shinkansen to Nagano and rented a car and drove up into the mountains. Traffic on the weekend was quite heavy beyond Yudanaka as the leaves were turning. Parked at the half pipe at Kanbayashi area and walked in. (There are two potential parking areas but either way you still have to walk a couple of kilometers in to the park.)
We stayed at Korakukan Jigokudani. Korakukan Jigokudani is a minshuku and is rather rustic but we had a very enjoyable and quiet stay next to the park. Food was excellent and we were the only non-Japanese visitors. The monkey park, Jigokudani Yaen-koen, is a short walk away. There is a webcam that takes a photo of the monkey rotemburo each hour and stores the photos for the last two days on the website. The macaques hang out during the day in a small steep sided valley and are literally everywhere throughout the couple of hundred square meter area and come and go throughout the day from the surrounding forest. When we were there we saw approximately 150 - 200 macaques throughout the area. I must say the place kind of grows on you as you watch the social interactions among the macaques and the play of the small macaques. It is not a zoo but the park staff do throw out a small amount of grain to the macaques each hour and during the nonwinter months I believe this might be the only reason that some of the macaques enter the rotemburo at this time. The macaques hardly seem to care that you are there.
People seemed quite amazed that these were not "bad monkeys" as many have seen on television that steal everything that isn't nailed down in urban or suburban areas of southeast Asia. The executive lounge and concierge staff at our hotel and others in Tokyo wondered aloud why would we want to go there(they understood visiting Shiga Kogen for the colors). And some were concerned about our safety among the "bad monkeys". One member of the concierge staff checked the monkey cam repeatedly during our time at the monkey park - and seemed quite relieved (and somewhat surprised) when he saw my niece on the webcam with the monkeys and that she wasn't being attacked or molested and that the monkeys were ignoring her. Based upon our visit and pictures upon our return to Tokyo another member of the staff decided to spend a weekend to visit the park and see the monkeys and again was quite amazed that these were "good monkeys" and said she doubted that she would ever have visited if not for our report and pictures.
The monkey park probably is not for everyone but it was quite a bit different (and was much better) than I imagined. Overall I was a bit surprised that I liked the monkey park as much as I did. While I can't say that I will visit the monkey park again, I am glad that I did at least once.
The park and the trails were never crowded even on the weekend but there was a different (more relaxed) atmosphere on the weekdays and we met a number of small groups of older Japanese women and other locals hiking the trails. A few contacts progressed beyond konichiwa and a couple of these groups sought out and engaged us, esp. my niece, in conversation (in english) about her visit.
We quite enjoyed our stay in Nagano also and the temple there, Zenkoji, was quite worth the visit.
<snip>
More info:
http://www.yamasa.org/japan/english/...igokudani.html
We stayed at Korakukan Jigokudani. Korakukan Jigokudani is a minshuku and is rather rustic but we had a very enjoyable and quiet stay next to the park. Food was excellent and we were the only non-Japanese visitors. The monkey park, Jigokudani Yaen-koen, is a short walk away. There is a webcam that takes a photo of the monkey rotemburo each hour and stores the photos for the last two days on the website. The macaques hang out during the day in a small steep sided valley and are literally everywhere throughout the couple of hundred square meter area and come and go throughout the day from the surrounding forest. When we were there we saw approximately 150 - 200 macaques throughout the area. I must say the place kind of grows on you as you watch the social interactions among the macaques and the play of the small macaques. It is not a zoo but the park staff do throw out a small amount of grain to the macaques each hour and during the nonwinter months I believe this might be the only reason that some of the macaques enter the rotemburo at this time. The macaques hardly seem to care that you are there.
People seemed quite amazed that these were not "bad monkeys" as many have seen on television that steal everything that isn't nailed down in urban or suburban areas of southeast Asia. The executive lounge and concierge staff at our hotel and others in Tokyo wondered aloud why would we want to go there(they understood visiting Shiga Kogen for the colors). And some were concerned about our safety among the "bad monkeys". One member of the concierge staff checked the monkey cam repeatedly during our time at the monkey park - and seemed quite relieved (and somewhat surprised) when he saw my niece on the webcam with the monkeys and that she wasn't being attacked or molested and that the monkeys were ignoring her. Based upon our visit and pictures upon our return to Tokyo another member of the staff decided to spend a weekend to visit the park and see the monkeys and again was quite amazed that these were "good monkeys" and said she doubted that she would ever have visited if not for our report and pictures.
The monkey park probably is not for everyone but it was quite a bit different (and was much better) than I imagined. Overall I was a bit surprised that I liked the monkey park as much as I did. While I can't say that I will visit the monkey park again, I am glad that I did at least once.
The park and the trails were never crowded even on the weekend but there was a different (more relaxed) atmosphere on the weekdays and we met a number of small groups of older Japanese women and other locals hiking the trails. A few contacts progressed beyond konichiwa and a couple of these groups sought out and engaged us, esp. my niece, in conversation (in english) about her visit.
We quite enjoyed our stay in Nagano also and the temple there, Zenkoji, was quite worth the visit.
<snip>
More info:
http://www.yamasa.org/japan/english/...igokudani.html
Of course, I found the return journey to Nagano by bullet train to be hideously expensive!
The monkeys will be at Jigokudani every day, perhaps the only place where you are pretty much guaranteed to see them 'in the wild'. There are other places to see wild monkeys, but never with certainty (an example would be the mountains behind the Miyajima shrine near Hiroshima)
The more you know about them before your visit, the more you will get out of your visit there. The surroundings are quite spartan and there is nothing laid on to 'entertain' you the visitor, nor much to inform you. The interactions between the monkey tribe members are only fascinating if you have a mind to see/interpret them that way.
For anyone who can see BBC iplayer, this makes a worthwhile and fascinating primer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hm9j5
(Available until the 13th May 09)
Last edited by LapLap; May 4, 2009 at 3:52 am
May 4, 2009, 12:09 pm
#4
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Jigokudani Yaen-koen is the place where you are probably most likely to see Japanese macaques throughout the year. Other places that I have not visited but which advertise being able to see Japanese macaques include Mt. Takasaki near Oita City, the Iwatayama Monkey Park near Arashiyama, and Yakushima Island.
Last edited by jerry a. laska; May 4, 2009 at 12:17 pm
May 7, 2009, 1:25 pm
#5
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Monkeys in Kyoto
There is also a monkey park in the town of Arashiyama, which is right outside of Kyoto. A ten minute walk from the Arashiyama train station will bring you to Monkey Park Iwatayama. Apparently the park is home to around 170 monkeys and they sell food at the park to feed them. From pictures that i have seen, it appears that park is at an elavation that allows for some pretty nice views of the Kyoto area.
I plan on going in November while in Kyoto, so i will post an update of my experience there.
I plan on going in November while in Kyoto, so i will post an update of my experience there.
May 7, 2009, 9:14 pm
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In reality, wild monkeys are everywhere in Japan, even in Shibuya. My fondest memory of the critters in the wild was in Kamikochi, in the hiking trails on the river basin. The little feckers would come out on the hiking trail and basically hold people up for peanuts, raisins, or whatever you could spare before letting you through.
May 7, 2009, 10:39 pm
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May 8, 2009, 3:58 am
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http://www.nowpublic.com/strange/mon...rain-station-0
And I have a B&W family photograph of a wild monkey perching on a Yoyogi/Shinjuku house.
And I have a B&W family photograph of a wild monkey perching on a Yoyogi/Shinjuku house.
May 8, 2009, 10:29 am
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May 8, 2009, 4:07 pm
#12
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I've seen the ones on Mt. Takasaki in Kyushu, and they too make reliable daily appearances. Actually there are three troupes (or tribes or whatever you call them) that come down at different set times of the day. It's not that the schedule is organized by humans - they are real wild monkeys that live on different parts of the mountain and over time have worked out a schedule amongst themselves where they come down to the area where they get fed at different times of the day so as to not disturb each other. It's really quite a sight - there are hundreds and hundreds of them and you kind of just walk among them. You're not supposed to feed them directly or touch them, and they're used to people so they'll leave you alone as long as you don't stare or tease them.
May 9, 2009, 7:22 am
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There is also a monkey park in the town of Arashiyama, which is right outside of Kyoto. A ten minute walk from the Arashiyama train station will bring you to Monkey Park Iwatayama. Apparently the park is home to around 170 monkeys and they sell food at the park to feed them. From pictures that i have seen, it appears that park is at an elavation that allows for some pretty nice views of the Kyoto area.
I plan on going in November while in Kyoto, so i will post an update of my experience there.
I plan on going in November while in Kyoto, so i will post an update of my experience there.
May 9, 2009, 8:32 am
#14
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We visited Jigokudani at the end of March taking the bus from Nagano and hiking up from the highway stop nearest. It's a nice walk of maybe a mile and a half though the last part was snow covered at that time of year.
To me the most remarkable thing is that the monkeys seem to be completely oblivious to the presence of humans. One can read warnings not to stare at monkeys, but the main hazard we observed is making sure not to trip over them on the path where they may be sleeping in the sun or dashing around from one side to the other.
We also found many Japanese who were amazed people went there or that tourists would be interested in seeing monkeys. Japanese we met who had been there felt quite the opposite.
To me the most remarkable thing is that the monkeys seem to be completely oblivious to the presence of humans. One can read warnings not to stare at monkeys, but the main hazard we observed is making sure not to trip over them on the path where they may be sleeping in the sun or dashing around from one side to the other.
We also found many Japanese who were amazed people went there or that tourists would be interested in seeing monkeys. Japanese we met who had been there felt quite the opposite.
