This day was literally all about the Jigokudani Monkey Park and the Japanese Macaques. They were the entire reason I went to Nagano in the first place.
In hind sight, it would have been ideal to spend a night in Nagano and explore the city a bit better. With that said, I enjoyed the crazy trains and shopping and eating in the train station before I had to return to Tokyo.
Coming out to see Nagano and the macaques was well worth the immense time on the train.
These monkeys were incredibly photogenic. They were incredibly relaxed and would let you get up pretty close too!
This was another of my favourites from the day. I took around 40 pictures of this one monkey because he kept letting me get closer and closer. In editing, I realize that it was because he was focused on the food!
I love this picture because it shows how well they blend into their surroundings.
The Monkey Park in inhabited by only a single troop I was told. They’re numerous and there were quite literally macaques everywhere. In addition, many of the tourists gathered around a small manmade pool that monkeys like to bathe in.
This particular monkey was not pleased with me. He ran away shortly after this photo was taken. I can’t say I’ve every been side eyed by a monkey before this day.
I mean, it’s another monkey.
Surprise! It’s another monkey! This one has food hanging off it mouth!
Even more monkey!
Every so often a staff member would walk by, sometimes with food and sometimes not. In this case, they were staring intently trying to figure out if there was food coming their way.
For the first 30 or 40 minutes we were there, it wasn’t cold enough for the monkeys to get into the pool. Eventually they started to slowly dip their toes.
This is one of my favourite photos from the whole trip. It’s so wholesome and comforting. I love it.
My camera’s zoom lens is a little beefy and has a lot of glass. I started to notice on this day that the monkeys could kind of see their reflection in it. So quite a few times I’d catch them looking right into the lens and it was an amazing feeling.
The more I viewed the macaques, the more personality and facial feature traits I started to pick out.
When the first monkey dropped into the pool, there was an audible gasp from the park visitors. This moment was extremely exciting!
While in the bath, it’s important to pick out and bugs or debris from your hair. Grab a friend and have them take a look!
It must have been the perfect temperature, because once this monkey got into the pool she stayed there. Minding her own business.
That is until the children started to come into the pool too and were splashing around.
This little fellow was looking for food that drifted to the bottom of the pool. I don’t recall him eating it, but he definitely played with it.