When Monkeys Attack

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Monkey Attack!

Monkey Feeding Time

Iwatayama Monkey Park in Kyoto's scenic mountains was the best destination of this trip so far, and easily ranks as one of the coolest experiences of my life. When most people see monkeys, they see them in zoos, caged. At Iwatayama, the macaques (if I remember Anthropology 101 correctly) roam free and alongside visitors. At first, I was amazed. Then, as one threatened to attack me while I was recording him, I got nervous. However, this subsided and I walked among crowds of dozens of monkeys as they howled and fought. At the rest station (which also provides a great view of Kyoto), you can buy apple pieces or peanuts to feed the monkeys. Watching the monkeys run up to you and fight over pieces of apple, stick their hands out and take it like a little baby from your hand is a sight one doesn't soon forget. When the keeper went to feed the monkeys out of a bucket, a crowd of about 100 of them ran following him. It was hilarious.

I also visited several temples and saw some zen gardens. Along the way I walked through a bamboo forest. My current residence, the Shunkoin Temple (www.shunkoin.com), is a sub-temple of the Myonshiji Temple Complex, which is vast and ancient. The Shunkoin is notable in that during the Edo period when Japanese Christians were persecuted, they hid several Christian symbols among Buddhist monuments found at the temple. It also has two guest rooms, which are comfortable but alas, have no televisions, so for the next 4 nights I'll have to read/ipod myself to sleep rather than watch wacky Japanese gameshows (to my dismay, while I'm not exactly a big anime fan, I do appreciate the artform, but have seen very little of it on the television thus far).

The current cafe I'm in is French themed, and offers free internet with a food order. Alas, the computers are bloody iMacs, so I'm struggling to figure out the controls. I assume I will get pictures up in a moment.

Update: Went to Downtown Kyoto to check out the more modern side of Kyoto, and wound up in this other internet cafe which kicks the pants off the last one. It's more expensive (450 yen/half hour) but has free drinks, ice cream, a comic library (fairly common in Japan) and showers. I uploaded two videos for your viewing pleasure in the meantime.

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Photos

Monkeys!
I'm surrounded by macaque monkeys. The helpful keeper not only took my picture but threw peanuts on the ground to attract some into the shot.

Bamboo Forest
Kyoto has a lot of natural beauty, from its vast mountains to flora such as these bamboo trees.

Kyoto Tower
But being Japan, even an ancient city like Kyoto has hints of modernism.

Hungry Hunry Monkeys
In the rest area of the Monkey Park, you can feed monkeys through the caged walls (feeding them outside is too dangerous). It's an experience to remember.

Comments

[Aunt Pat]

Wish I was There
It is good to see that you are having a great time. Wish that I had seen that when I was there. I am going to print everything for your Mom. Did you ever get you luggage. I was not too worried because this happens quite a bit with a successful ending. Let us know. Keep up the blogging and have the time of your life. Love Aunt Pat

[A Pseudonym]

I got my luggage the night after my plane arrived. Apparantly the reason most passengers didn't get their luggage was some kind of security check back at JFK airport. I just had to go through my first day in Tokyo in smelly clothing, not the end of the world I suppose.