Jigokudani Yaen Koen

“Snowfall in Yamanouchi”

Yamanouchi, Japan. February 2019. (12 photos)

This is part 7 of my Japan 2018-19 photo series.

Nagano, the home of the 1998 Winter Olympics is a city in Japan, about 173km northwest of Tokyo. By shinkansen (the bullet train) it takes about 90 minutes to get there from Tokyo. Northeast of Nagano one finds Jigokudani Yaen Koen, near the town of Yamanouchi. It is part of the Joshinetsu Kogen National Park.

“Snow falling on cedars”

At 850m above sea level, heavy snowfall covers the area for about four months each year. A solitary narrow 2km path leads through the forest to Jigokudani Yaen Koen.

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

“Serenity now”

“The road to “hell””

At the end of the trail, one reaches Jigokudani Yaen Koen. The name Jigokudani, means “Hell’s Valley”, and it is so named due to the steam and boiling water that bubbles out of small crevices in the frozen ground, forming natural onsen (hot springs) surrounded by steep cliffs and cold and hostile forests. But these hot baths are not for humans; rather they’re for the local inhabitants, snow monkeys. If you weren’t aware of it, Jigokudani Yaen Koen is more popularly known as snow monkey park.

“What you looking at?”

The park is famous for its large population of wild Japanese macaques, more commonly known as snow monkeys, that go to the valley during the winter, foraging elsewhere in the national park during the warmer months. The monkeys descend from the steep cliffs and forest to sit in the hot waters of the onsen, and return to the security of the forests in the evenings.

“Feels sooo good”

“Shared bodily warmth”

“Somebody’s watching me”

There are live webcams at snow monkey park. Anyone watching it at a certain time on a certain day would have seen me clearly. Fortunately, the footage is not archived.

“I’m never getting out of this onsen”

Wild monkeys bathing in hot springs. Only in Japan. Seriously.

“Contemplative”

“Happy trails”

You’ve probably realised I didn’t take these photos during my trip to Japan in autumn, October/November 2018. Rather, I took these last week during a return visit to Japan for 8 days, in the Japanese winter. I could call this part 1 of my Japan in winter 2019 photo series, but I won’t.

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This is part 7 of my Japan 2018-19 photo series.