Nagano, Nagano, Japan (February 2025)

Today, we were scheduled to see the snow monkeys bathing in the hot springs in the wild. Nagano is the capital city of Nagano Prefacture. It is famous for these snow monkeys along with the fact that Nagano hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics. Nagano is considered the Japanese Alps. 

The weather was fine and the way to get to the parking lot to enter the Snow Monkey Park was just marvelous.

But, after we arrived at the parking lot, the access to snow monkeys was not easy at all. We had to walk 1.6 km from the parking lot to the Snow Monkey Park. Furthermore, it was snowing and the road was slippery. But, we had to do it. 

As we walked, we started feeling so amazed by the beautiful snow scenery. It was so fantastic, we became speechless. However, we had to endure several snow bombs that fell from the trees because the snow-covered branches were shaken by the wind. 

After walking 1.6 km on the snow-packed road under snow bombs, we finally arrived at the Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park. The pathway and stairs were slippery, but we were excited to see the snow monkeys in the wilderness.

Snow monkeys are called Japanese macaques, native to Japan. This park has approximately 200 wild snow monkeys that enjoy bathing in hot springs. 

Although I have seen these monkeys thing in hot springs on TV, it was hilarious to see them with my own eyes. They looked so serious as they bathed. 

After watching snow monkeys bathing in hot springs, we had to walk back 1.6 km to the parking lot. We could not take away our eyes from the beautiful nature fully covered with snow. 

A hot coffee after the long walk on the snow was just heavenly.

On the way to our ryokan, we were passing by the snow-covered nature again. No matter how much we watched them, we were still amazed by the beauty.  

We arrived at our ryokan, called Chibu Onsen Ryokan. It was our first experience. It was small and seemed like three people were operating and managing the ryokan. Our accommodation was on the Japanese traditional floor, called Tatami. We were familiar with this type of flooring, but it was really cold in the winter. They provided a heater but the gas smell was too strong for us to use it. We ended up sleeping in the cold. The thermometer was indicating 4 degrees Celsius in the morning.  

The ryokan had an outside onsen pool which men and women were taking turns to experience. The water was not hot enough to fully enjoy it but was good enough for an experience. 

The inside onsen pool was so small and the water was not hot enough. Again, we settled for the first experience. 

Our group took poses with our Yucatas on. 

The Kaiseki dinner was wonderful. Kaiseki is a Japanese course meal that varies from place to place and from region to region. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

Our breakfast was also served in Kaiseki. It was simpler and smaller, but we were still delightful. 

This young lady was speaking English and explained well what they were serving and how we should eat them. Fabulous!

Nagano was a great place that gave us two of Japan's most significant iconic experiences: snow monkeys in onsen and ryokan. - Jeffrey