If Tokyo is revered for its contemporary architecture, man-made structures bearing the weight of the sky, then Nagano, four hours to the north, boasts nature’s skyscrapers, a snow-capped canopy protecting the sleepy towns that hug its sides. Nagano is fondly referred to as the roof of Japan, and houses Japan’s Alps, offering some of the best skiing in the world. It was also the site of the 1998 winter Olympics. But what we had come there for was not skiing, but the legendary snow monkeys, furry little critters that live deep in the mountains, surviving the cold winters by soaking in the scalding hot onsens in what is known as hell’s valley. To get there, we traveled by train from Nagano to a tiny mountain town, famed for its many hot springs, which draw its waters
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