Nagano Snow Monkeys and Disneyland

We took a day trip to Nagano on a bullet train from Tokyo. The journey on the train took about 1 hour 20 mins and was a very smooth trip; even at that speed we were still able to take in the scenery. We had booked our tickets a bit late, so were unable to sit side by side on the way out, but were able to get middle seats with Z sitting behind me. The main purpose of this day trip was to go to Jigokudani Wild Monkey Park to see the snow monkeys. From the train station we had to still take a bus to the park and this part of the journey took us about another hour. From the drop off point we had about a 10 minute walk to the park trailhead through a residential neighbourhood. The walk on the trail was just over 2 km before reaching the actual entrance to where the monkeys were. The park opened in 1964 and provides a rare opportunity to observe wild monkeys in their near-natural environment from a close distance.

The park is home to the Japanese macaque monkeys which visitors can see up close and personal in their natural environment. The habitat has shockingly steep cliffs, with a river flowing in the lower valley and a hot spring pool in which the monkeys bath and chill in the hot waters. The monkeys roam freely around the grounds and amongst the park visitors seemly unbothered by the presence of people. It was fascinating to see monkeys this close and observe their behaviour towards one another, sometimes playing and sometimes appearing to fight with one another. Being so close you could really get a glimpse of their facial features and their fingers and toes and how they used their fingers to grab individual small pieces of grain to eat. There were a couple babies we noticed as well, both being carried on their mother's back. This was truly special experience. 

We went to the monkey park first thing in the morning which meant we still had the rest of the afternoon to explore Nagano. Nagano is famously known for hosting the 1998 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Walking through the city you can see different plaques and monuments symbolizing the games. The city was originally built around the Zenkoji temple which was built in the 7th century. Similar to main temple in Tokyo, the street leading to the temple grounds is lined with shops and eateries. The temple itself is beautiful and ornately decorated, and this temple remains one of the last pilgrimage sites in Japan. This is definitely worth the visit when in Nagano. 

We also spent a day at Disneyland Tokyo which was celebrating its 40th anniversary. After having visited Mickey at two of his other parks, why not take the opportunity to see him and his friends in Tokyo? The park is very similar to Disneyland providing a very classic experience, except the rides where language is spoken were all Japanese which made the Jungle Cruise an absolutely hilarious experience because we had no idea what was being said but the ride was the exact same as in LA's Disneyland so we knew the general script yet still couldn't understand it. A lot of the rides are the same except for a featured ride, Beauty and the Beast. We were lucky enough to ride this ride after standing in line for over an hour only to learn the ride broke down and then wait another 45 minutes to make it through the queue to get a fast pass in hopes the ride would be fixed before the end of the day. Thankfully we noticed on the handy park app that it appeared the ride was fixed and quickly made our way back and queued up once again, this time only the fast pass holders from when the ride broke down were allowed to queue up and so the line flowed a lot faster and we got to experience this really cool unique ride. One of the cool things about Tokyo Disneyland is the different unique food options at the park, like each of the popcorn stands offered a different flavour of popcorn and mickey shaped churros. Most of the characters we saw at the park were the same, but we did get to see Captain Hook and Piglet. The parades were amazing and over the top. The evening one was called Dream of Lights and each float lite up in bright lights and looked really amazing as they passed by the lite up castle. Visiting the park was without a doubt worth it and now only leaves one park to see. 

While we were only in Tokyo for a week, we packed in a lot, got to see a lot of really amazing things and had some really unique and amazing experiences. We'll have to return to explore some more and venture to other areas of Japan as well. 

To travel is to live... until next time... life is good!