Nagano Field Trip: October 28

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Last day, woohoo!!

We got up and went down to breakfast about 7:30 am, and the effects of the previous night's partying were pretty obvious on some people. One of my friends, Matt, came down looking like death and said "Oh my god guys, I've got allergies and I'm still drunk." That's right - people went to bed about 3 am and woke up still drunk. Good times.

We all brought our luggage down and toted it to the parking lot where the buses were waiting and told the driver to which destination, Kaihin Makuhari or Makuharihongo, we were going. Then we got on microbuses, of which there were three, to go to Jigokudani Onsen. This is probably better known to most people as the onsen where the Japanese macaques (snow monkeys) go and bathe in the winter. It was quite a hike to get there, but it was worth it. We had to go over safety procedures like don't touch the monkeys, don't make eye contact with the monkeys, don't be stupid, that kind of thing. I was surprised when we got there because there were no enclosures. The complex was fairly large, with a river and the onsen above it, and a bridge over the river. First Liz and I went to look at the monkeys by the river, where the alpha male came (yes, we're sure since he was the biggest, shiniest, reddest monkey with testicles that would be large for a human male, let alone a 3 foot monkey) and I was stepped on by another monkey. Some other monkeys were grooming each other, some had babies, some were playing. It was interesting to get that close to them. Of course, some people were stupid and got too close but that was inevitable. After we were done with our Jane Goodall moment, Liz and I went to see the onsen, and a monkey fight broke out, causing Shin-san to light up with joy.

After the monkey onsen, we drove back to the buses and got on them so we could head home. We drove to a service area for lunch, which was nothing overly remarkable, except that they had really pathetic wasabi ice cream. After lunch, we went to a taiko school, where a famous guy let us look at his collection of percussion instruments from all over the world and then played some taiko for us. After we heard them play a couple songs, they got all of us up and taught us a taiko song. We weren't that good, but when you have 60 people trying to learn a song in 30 minutes there are going to be mistakes. All in all though, it was a good time.

We got on the bus and finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Japanese, took naps and I saw Mt. Fuji two days after it was snowed on. When we got in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, it was dark, so we got some really lovely views of Tokyo by night, including Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge.

We got to Makuhari around 7:15 and then got on a bus to Makuharihongo, from which I went home and pretty much ate dinner and fell asleep. Saturday was a little bit anticlimatic, really. I did get some funny videos of Matt though.

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