Snow Monkeys: Cooler than every other kind of monkey. Bar none.

Ever been to the Olympic city of Nagano in Japan? Well, I have, and let me tell you, it’s a pretty amazing place. Maybe this information doesn’t surprise you, after all, it’s the only city in the world that was cool enough to host events from both the summer and winter Olympics; it’s home to one of the most culturally important and oldest Buddhist Temples, Zenkoji; and, I can tell you from my own personal experience it has one of the most friendly police forces in the world. If you arrive in Nagano in the middle of the night, have no idea how to get to your hostel, can’t make yourself understood to any of the taxi drivers outside the train station and fear you may freeze to death in the raging blizzard that’s conveniently blowing, well the police are there to help. Not only will they give you directions, they’ll photocopy a map, highlight your route, call the hostel to make sure someone will be there to check you in and then carry your bags for you, through knee deep snow, back to the taxi stand to further explain all the information to the driver in their native tongue. This might sound amazing (and, don’t get me wrong, it is) but, just about everyone is this friendly and helpful in Japan.

I didn’t go to Nagano to experience the Olympic spirit, explore Buddhist temples, or even to play the role of hapless tourist to local law enforcement officials. I took the almost two hour train ride from Tokyo to Nagano due to it’s proximity to the Joshin-Etsu Kogen National Park. I came to Nagano to see Snow Monkeys.

From Nagano, to actually see the Snow Monkeys (or Japanese Macaque as they are technically but less descriptively called) you’ll have to take another hour long train ride, a 30 minute bus ride and then a 40 minute hike (slightly) up a mountain to get to a natural onsen where the monkeys, unsurprisingly, like to hang out when it’s bitterly cold. This might sound like an effort to see a bunch of monkeys, why wouldn’t you just hop in your car and drive to your local zoo? Well, because quite simply you would be missing the opportunity of a lifetime. Have you ever walked through a forest as snow falls gently (or maybe not so gently) around you? It creates a silence that you have to experience to believe. The only sound you will hear is your own footsteps as you crunch your way through the snow, surrounded by one of the most intensely beautiful forests that you might ever see. The whole way there, your excitement is building but so is your fear. What if you don’t get to see any monkeys?

I think you will. I did… dozens of them. And, the best part of all, you get to experience it unsurrounded by other tourists. They obviously all went to the zoo.