February 15 - Snow Monkey Tour - Hakuba

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Today we are heading out on the snow monkey tour. This is one very touristy thing that we want to do and we splurge on a tour. When we get up, we have breakfast at the hotel. I eat one of the instant noodles and it is terrible. In the instant noodle package, we get three packets: seasoning, a peanut sauce and dehydrated seaweed, bamboo shots, etc. I absolutely despise bamboo shots. Darren cooked up an egg for me too, so that made me feel a little better. Darren just ate yogourt and granola.



We catch the shuttle to the Hakuba Bus Terminal, where we will meet up with our tour. We get there early because of the limited shuttle times and hang out for a bit. One Aussie guy recognizes us from the hill yesterday, which is incredible because we are covered up on the hill. Maybe he recognized my jacket because Darren isn't even wearing the same jacket. We hang around the bus station until our tour with Ski Japan shows up. We are on a chartered bus full of Australians and the couple we met the other day at Hakuba 47 - Adam and Angela from New Zealand.



John is our tour guide and he is a wealth of information. We get on the bus and he instantly starts explaining to us about Japan. John is originally from California, but has lived in Japan for 30 years now. He lives in a nearby community by Hakuba with his family. First John tells us about Hakuba. This area was developed by agriculture, mainly a rice making community and we can see the rice fields covered in snow. The area is still owned by a lot of farmers and the smaller lots are privately owned, but the larger lots are owned by Japanese Agriculture. He points out the ski jumps at Happo One and explains that Japan is still paying for the Olympics and a lot of people were upset about this, but they were happy to get more infrastructure. The area surrounding Hakuba is also farm land. John explains that he lives in a nearby town and a lot of people are moving away from the rurals areas and going into the city. It is becoming a major problem in rural Japan. Families have settled in the rural areas and their ancestors are buried on the property. Families don't want to sale their land because they believe that their ancestors return to the area once a year from the other world. So, they can have someone help them move the spirits, but that is difficult. Another problem is that these farmsteads have been around for 500 years and the family members now a days do not want to deal with 500 years of junk (or possibly gems). Many roofs in the area are thatched and need re-thatching, so if the family members don't want to farm, but want to rent out the land, then they need to upkeep the farmsteads. Thatching costs a lot of money and not many people know how to thatch the roofs, so they go on a waiting list for a couple of years. So, basically what happens is that a lot of farms become abadoned, until recently, the government is imposing a tax on the unkept lands. John says that he farms and pays the landowner 1,000 yen a year to farm the land. He knows he is getting an amazing deal and sends gifts to the landowners as they would find it insulting if he paid more money.



John also talks about the amount of cement we see in the hills. He says that in the spring the rivers are flooded and landslides are common, almost taking out a village every year. So, they have started to reinforce the slopes with cement. He says that many rivers are dammed to try to capture the energy in the spring. We pass a massive dam and think about the amount of cement that went into this as well. Cement is everywhere!



We head into Nagano and John talks about how this region is known for their apples. We see apple orchards everywhere. He says that the most popular apple is the Fujisen. It is the biggest and sweetest apple. He says that when he tells people in Japan that he is from the Nagano area, they say, "Oh, you have really good apples there." And he replies, "Yes, we have the best apples. Thank you very much." Each region is known for something. He goes on to tell us about the extrordinarily high priced fruit that we see or hear about. We have heard about a square watermelon costing hundreds of dollars. He says that farmers will conduct tedious work to perfect a few pieces of fruit. For example, they will hand twist apples so that they get enough sunlight to be the same colour all of the way around. He said that Japanese are really into branding themselves and their regions. Therefore, if the farmer has a perfect case of apples - all the same size, perfectly round and all of the same colour. The farmer can sell those apples for a lot more. If the farmer is a famous farmer from a region that specializes in that fruit, that is two brands and can be even more expensive. Typically Japanese people do not buy these perfect fruits for themselves - they buy these perfect fruits as gifts and it is a very special gift to give these perfect fruits that have been branded. He mentioned that Nestle figured out Japanese marketing and asked the regions if they wanted their own special brand of kit kat bars. He said we will notice all sorts of flavours of kit kat bar: apple, mache tea, etc. He said that they will make kit kat flavours for a limited time only and it gets people hooked, although some of the kit kat bars are not very good - like the pumpkin kit kat. It keeps people constantly wanting to buy kit kats.



We stop at a bus station for a quick break. Here there is a gift store with lots of apple products. The Aussies stock up since John made it such a big deal. Darren and I try these hot pocket-like buns. The hot buns are stuffed with different things. I get a bun stuffed with mushrooms and Darren gets a pork bun. Again, we are successful in finding tasty Japanese food.



On my way back to the bus, I ask John if he knows our friend Karey from Crowsnest. He laughs and says that everyone knows Karey. We chat about the tour and I ask him about the white, goat, angel thing we see around Hakuba. He smirks and says it is their mascot, but says he doesn't know why they chose this as their mascot. It does look a bit ridiculous. He says it is supposed to be a snow angel. He said that the regions pick a mascot and the mascot for Nagano is a bear with an apple head. Bears are found in Japan too and can be aggressive just like the bears at home.



John continues to educate us, he is a superb guide. He tells us about how the Olympics left a lot of infrastructure. Roads were built out to more remote areas. Two skating rinks were built in Nagano and now one is a field house and they have kept one as a skating rink. He said it used to take several hours to drive to these areas. He said he took a bus once and it was 17 hours long. Also, back then people could smoke on the bus, but they weren't allowed to open windows. He swore that he would never take a bus again. Funny, we are on a bus. ;-) Smoking rules are a bit different in Japan. People can smoke in a restaurant here, but they are not allowed to smoke outside, unless in a designated smoking area. So, it isn't uncommon to eat dinner and have someone smoking beside you, but we can walk on the street without anyone smoking.



We are getting close to the monkey part of the tour now. As we approach, John tells us that it is about a half hour walk into see the monkeys. He explains a bit of the history behind this snow monkey population, the Japanese macaque monkey. The monkeys like to spend time in the onsen and this is why they are so popular. There are about 200 monkeys in this population and typically we will only see the mother and the babies. The older males tend to be solo and only come to the group during mating season. The monkeys have been in this area for several years now, but before they moved in (and currently) there was a hotel with an onsen located here. The monkeys noticed that people went into the onsen and decided that this was something they wanted to do too. Although, this is a problem due to feces in the water. Tourists no longer wanted to use the onsen, although, they enjoyed watching the monkeys. So, the hotel built an onsen for the monkeys at a different location and taught them to use this onsen by placing food around it. They eventually got used to it and most of the monkeys left the tourist onsen. There are about 4 monkeys that refuse to leave the original onsen and the hotel has to empty and clean the onsen daily for health code reasons. There was also a problem with tourists feeding the monkeys and the monkeys became reliant on human food. If tourists didn't visit the onsen with food, the monkeys would head to the hotel or the village and search for food. They quickly changed this and had to retrain the monkeys to eat their food. To this day, park rangers feed the monkeys by scattering grain in the snow. The monkeys still need to scavenge for their food, but it keeps them monkeys away from the human food. Needless to say, we are not allowed to feed the monkeys.



As we walk towards the monkey's home, we pass through a beautiful forest and many signs giving tidbit information about the monkeys. The monkeys like to come down to the onsen in the morning, but they sleep - in different places - up in the forest. Sometimes they cuddle together with family or a close friend to stay warm and a picture shows them holding hands and feet. The mama monkey gives birth every couple of years and the gestation period is 171 days. The father has nothing to do with raising the babies. Another cool fact, the snow monkey is the furthest north primate, not including humans. While we continue to walk, we pass a number of people leaving the park and saying how cool it was to see the monkeys and everyone is smiling.



We get to the park and instantly start seeing monkeys in the hills. Once we see one, then we start seeing them everywhere. Babies are climbing on their mom's backs, playing in trees and playing with each other. One baby is in the snow and he looks like he is flexing one bicep. The monkeys are picking at the snow and eating the grain that the rangers have set out. A river separates us from the snow monkeys, but we can see that they will cross over the river at times. The monkeys are all on the south facing slope where the sun is allowing them to bask and warm up. We head up to the onsen and a few monkeys look absolutely zen as they soak in the water. Some monkeys are grooming others and they absolutely do not care about us. They walk between us. John told us that they don't like it when we show our teeth at them as this is a threat. If we accidentally smile and they hiss, then take a step back from them. We didn't have any issues, but we did see the monkey get angry at one girl. I think it might be because she was too close to that monkey's personal space. The area itself is really cool. We are in a valley with steep hills around us. The smell of monkeys fills the air. We have about an hour with the monkeys and this time flies by!!!



As we leave, there is a museum with a monkey skeleton. We meet up with John again and walk back to the bus with him. He has had an adventurous life with living in Hawaii, Aspen and now Japan. He has a young family back home, I believe two little girls. He is super friendly and I really enjoy his stories.



We have to wait about 20 minutes for a lone traveller to return to the bus. This is a bit frustrating because everyone else was on time and this girl just meanders back onto the bus while 50 people wait for her. It is now time to head to Obuse for lunch. We have a set lunch and we picked one beef and one fish meal. I didn't like the fish, but the beef was delicious. Again, the meal size is huge. We started with some pickled goods, then a delicious miso soup, a bowl of rice and an entry plate. It still baffles me that the portions are huge.



Once we finish our lunch, we head over to the sake brewery for a sake tasting. We get a list of sake and we decide to try them all, but Darren and I share. It is interesting to try a few different types and we can tell the difference between sweet and dry sake. We are given some salt to put on our hand and this is used in between tastings to 'cleanse the palet'. We pick a bottle of sake to take home to Canada and save for a special occassion.



John hyped up this area and told us to walk around after lunch. There is an art museum with Hokusai's art (this is the artist who painted the famous Mt. Fuji and waves picture that I bought while at Mt. Fuji), sake brewery, cafes with sweets and ice cream and the crazy apple pie lady. He said the apple pie lady is quite unique and will lure us into her shop. She makes these amazing apple fritters though that we all have to try. John also said that this area is known for their chestnuts, so most things are flavoured with chestnuts. I peak into the museum gift shop and find that it is quite expensive here. I found this curtain that I wanted of a mountain scene, of course it is by Hokusai, but it is 1,200 yen cheaper at the bus station. We then stroll down the shop alley and find the crazy apple lady. John says that sometimes she sings and the other shop owners don't like her because she gets all of the business. The shop owners have samples out and there is a nut sample, I try it and almost spit it out - gross! We can also try crickets, but I pass because I have eaten cricket before. Then the crazy apple lady. She is good and the apple fritters are delicious - we even put an apple sauce on top to make it more appley. She yells out at everyone to take a bonus apple. She has a bin of apples and hands these apples out for free. I grab one to try later and pick a nice big one.



We head back to the bus, I should say that we wattle back to the bus. After lunch and an apple fritter, we are stuffed. I don't need to eat anything for awhile now. Our next stop is Zenkoji Temple. John explains that this temple is a Buddhist temple and that discrimination is not accepted here. He says that there are two leaders, one of both genders and that dogs are even welcome in the temple. It is common to see people dress up their dogs to come to this temple. The temple is found in Nagano and the city was built around the temple, which was built over 1400 years ago in the 7th century. This is the 3rd largest wooden structure in Japan and one of the first Buddhist temples in Japan and was built before buddhism was split into different sections. The temple is famous for having a hidden buddha (hibutsu) enclosed in the temple. No one has seen this buddha for 1400 years, so it is questioned whether the buddha is actually still there. This buddha is rumoured to be the first buddha to come to Japan. A replica of the buddha was created and is shown every 6 years at a special ceremony called Gokaichō and millions of visitors and worshipers come to few the statue. There is a string attached to the buddha and tied to a pole so that people can touch the buddha.



When we head to the gate of the temple, John asks us if we want to go the dark room. This is a hallway that is pitch black and as we walk through it, we have to hold our right hand at waist height to feel the side of the wall. When we get to a knob, we move it to make a sound, letting others know that they are close. The knob represents us standing directly below hibutsu and when we pass through the dark hallway, we will be reborn. The people that want to go to the dark room are split off. Darren and I choose to do this (as long as there are no spiders in the dark room) and now have a new tourguide, Giro (pronounced Hero). Giro is a Japanese volunteer guide. He is very soft spoken, but just seems like the gentlest person in the world. He describes the statues guarding the front gate of the temple and called them 'Awe' and 'Mmm'. Awe represents birth because the mother screams out awe while giving birth and Mmm represents death because when dying a soft mmm is given out. Rope sandals are hung at the gate and hung by worshippers to ask for strong feet and legs to carry them through life. We enter the temple area and Giro shows us a buddha wearing a red hat and bib. He says that this buddha watches and protects the children. We pass by paper on a string and these are fortunes. For 200 yen, our fortune can be given and if we don't like our fortune (found on a piece of paper), then we can tie it to the string and our fortune is left at the temple.



We are about to enter the temple now and we are not allowed to take photographs inside. We first bow and pay our respects to the buddha on the main floor. Decorations and statues are everywhere and these long gold pieces hang down like a chandeliar. We are now ready for the dark room. It is also 500 yen to walk through the dark hallway. We must take our shoes off before heading into the dark room. Apparently there is a special way to take off your shoes. We must take off one shoe and then place our foot on the raised floor, then take off the other shoe and put the other foot on the raised floor. This makes sense. Then we put our shoes in a plastic bag and carry that while we walk through the dark hallway. We go down some short steps and watch our heads as the hallway is short - I woudn't want to be a tall person walking through here. There is a line of us and as it gets dark, I can't see the person in front of me anymore. I can hear their plastic bag rustle around as they walk. It is dark and I'm worried about either hitting my head or running into the person infront of me, which I do a few times. There are a couple of bends in the hallway, so it really is important to touch the wall to guide us through the hallway. We get to the knob and make the sound to alert the people behind us, "You are almost here and you will be reborn again." When we pop up from the hallway, one of the Japanese workers points to a mirror and jokes, "Look at the new you!" We head over to the front of the temple and another buddha is here. This buddha is a healing buddha, we toss some yen into the collection box and rub the buddha where we want to be healed and then rub that spot on ourself. Some people might rub the entire buddha and then rub all of themself.



We near the end of the temple tour and say goodbye to Giro. He was magnificant. Now, we head back to the bus with the entire group. The drive back to Hakuba is about 1 hour and it is pretty quiet. I gaze our the window and try to take in everything that we learned today. What an excellent tour!



We get dropped off at the Happo bus terminal and ask Adam and Angela (New Zealand couple) if they want to grab a beer together. We ask John too, but he has supper waiting for him at home. The four of us track down a pub near the bus station. Angela says that all of the good pubs are found in basements. We just happen to find a basement pub, with blaring music and several empty seats. We get a few beers and an employee comes over to pour us some sake (on the house). Compai! We share stories with Adam and Angela over a couple of rounds of drinks. Darren and I told Dom and Veronica that we would go for sushi with them, so we need to head back. We were going to take a taxi, but it is a 40 minute wait and only a 20 minute walk. We opt for the walk. When we get to the hotel, Veronica is sleeping and Dom doesn't want to wake her. I don't feel so bad for being late now. Darren and I head over for sushi on our own, but the place is so busy and we are told to make a reservation. We make a reso for Friday night at 6pm. Darren will eventually get his sushi!



We head over to this restaurant called Emu and hope it is still open. Things close early here and dinner is usually done by 8pm. Emu is open, but we don't get to use the grill. The Japanese-style tables here have giant grills in the middle and we can cook our own food on the grills. I order vegetable ramen and Darren gets chicken cutlets with BBQ, we also share edamame beans. The edamame beans tastes so much better than the ones we get at home, they are covered in a light salt or soaked in salt. They taste fresh. Then our meals come out and my ramen is massive!!! Even though I ordered a vegetable ramen, I still have pork in it. Darren get his cutlets, miso soup and rice. This is all so much food. We then see Dom and Veronica walk in, so they come and join us. I don't like wasting my food, so I try very hard to finish it, but it's impossible. I really like ramen though, it warms me up on these cold days. Dom and Veronica are both characters and we enjoy hanging out with these people that are full of life. We are a bit louder than the others in the restaurant and there is this lone, white woman beside us that stares or glares at us.



We finish up and head back to the hotel with full, warm bellies. The food is amazing in Japan. We had an excellent day and can't wait for tomorrow.

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