Jigokudani snow monkey park and Yudanaka

We had an early start and were on the train just after 7.30. We had two slow local trains taking us down to Toyama where we caught the Shinkansen through to Nagano. From here we took one final train up the valley to Yudanaka. The final train had the driver sitting above the carriage so you got great views from the front of the train.

We arrived on time at 12.30 and walked the short distance to our hotel. The accommodation here is in the style of a Ryokan where you have to remove your shoes when in the building and the room is covered in tatami mats on the floor and traditional screens instead of doors once inside the room.

We were able to check in and once we had sorted ourselves out we were offered a lift up to the entrance to the snow monkey park. From here it was a 30 minute easy walk to the area where the monkeys are. A particular troop of Japanese macaques have been bathing here since the 60's. The story about why they started to visit seems to have a couple of explanations but, evidently, they come down from the hills in the morning, lounge around in the hot springs or around the water all day, then return to the hills to sleep. They seemed completely unperturbed by the presence of the visitors.

After spending around 45 minutes watching them we walked back down to the entrance where we had some food, a bowl of ramen. Next we walked back down the hill to the Ryokan and I took a trip to the hotels onsen. This is a room with a large pool in it filled with hot springs water. Men and women have to use different rooms and the expectation is that you enter naked. Fortunately, when I went, I had the place to myself! I didn't stay long though as the water was very very hot and constantly being topped up with fresh hot water.

After cooling down we walked into town and eventually found a place for tea. The town looked largely shut up but the place we found when we opened the door was empty. The owner was friendly and despite her lack of English and our lack of Japanese we were able to order food.

After we had eaten, the owner insisted on switching on the karaoke machine and wouldn't allow us not to take part. For the second time today I was glad that we were the only ones there. We both had a few attempts with the machine scoring you on each song for a range of things (which we couldn't understand but since included pouch, tone and timing).

After a while we made our excuses and walked back to the hotel.Read more