00:00:09 John Daub: Hey everybody, welcome to Nagano. This is the Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park. They have pretty decent Wi-Fi here, so I could just bring you a live stream. Boom. There they are in the onsen bath. We're going to walk around for the next 15 minutes or so. I had to go a little bit earlier than I planned because the interview that I have got moved back to 12 o'clock. That's when I was going to start the live stream, so we got to do that right now.

00:00:37 John Daub: Now, this is Takizawa-san who's been working here for 23 years. You can see the monkeys are all out and about right now because we just put the food out for them. It was quite an experience to see all of the mugi (barley). They're having a fight down there. Check it out. There's some drama. The little guy won. That's a big deal when the little guy wins.

00:01:15 John Daub: It is a beautiful area. Let me pan over here. This place is called Jigokudani (Hell Valley). But really, for the monkeys, this is sort of paradise because they can come here and warm up with the hot water. Now, I'm filming a main channel episode here. There's my camera and my gear. My backpack is down there. I'm going to have to seriously wash my backpack because the monkeys, although quite civilized, they're monkeys. They poo everywhere and the poo is all over the place. Now my bag smells like monkey poo. So I'm going to have to really scrub that when I get back home. Keep in mind, you don't want to bring bags and put them down anywhere because it's going to smell like monkey poo.

00:01:58 John Daub: Harvest JP asked a really good question. Can humans join the monkeys in the bath? The answer is no. The bath is quite dirty and you can get fungal infections, among other things that the monkey community has. So you don't want to be sharing a bath with the monkey population, although you think it seems like it would be a good idea, but it's not. Those that are interested can watch me on the live camera, too. This is a live camera feed. There's two of them. There's also one up here. So on the Jigokudani Monkey Park website, let me give you the link so you can go and check that out. Jigokudani-yenokoen.co.jp. Get a little grooming. I am jealous.

00:04:04 John Daub: Now, the monkey society here, it's more than just bathing. In fact, you might not guess it by looking at them, but they don't like to get wet just like cats. The lesser of two evils, I guess, is getting wet than being cold. And it is about zero degrees here. It's about freezing. But they have such really thick coats of fur, so they're not really that cold. But it sure feels good in the bath. Now, some of the monkeys do like the bath. There's one called Tomiko-chan. She seems to like it the most. Tomiko-chan is here. Ah, ichiban no obaasan (number one granny). 23 years old. Wow.

00:05:01 John Daub: Another interesting thing is that you see them being wet here. They're not actually cold. In human terms, we would think that we would be really cold after getting out of the bath. But their fur is so thick, they don't feel it the same way that you and I do. There's the obaachan. She's 23 years old. How old are monkeys? They're about 25 to 30 years old. But the environment is so harsh that they usually can't live up to 20 years. Look at this little guy. He looks like Leo. Look, he's just a little baby. Are you seeing this? There's still a little bit of barley down there for them to eat.

00:06:11 John Daub: Here's another interesting point that I've learned. I've been here for two days now. This is my second day. I've been observing the people who come here. And the Japanese, most of them think it's scary. They go kowaii (scary), kowaii, kowaii when the monkeys come close to them. And the foreigners, the non-Japanese that live here in Japan, of course, there's no international tourism here right now. They think it's just so cute and they're not scared at all. Because I guess they don't have monkeys where they live. So it's just interesting to see how a lot of Japanese fear the monkeys. And a lot of the westerners want to approach the monkeys. But that was just really a unique point here.

00:07:02 John Daub: These monkeys have better bathing accommodations than I do. And when they come out with their fur tapped down like this, they look like little lions. Just stay calm. Don't be allowed to touch the monkeys. Don't get close to the monkeys. But if the monkeys come to you, just stay calm and don't try to touch them. Let them be. The monkeys and humans live together here. They're quite used to it just because of the park. But the park has a really important function. And that's another reason why I'm making this episode. So there's going to be a main channel episode based on the video I've been taking for the last two days. But this park has a very unique purpose.

00:07:49 John Daub: In the winter there's really not a lot of food for the monkeys. They have to search for the food and sometimes they can terrorize local farms as well. So having places like this as a sanctuary not only keeps them safe, gives them some care—people, the staff can kind of keep track of them—but they can also get food and make it through the winter quite happy. And you can see the population seems to be doing pretty good. At night the monkeys, where do they sleep? They don't actually sleep here every night. They sleep in a different location. So they'll come down in the morning like around 6:30 in the morning, and then at night around 5 or 6 p.m. when it starts to get dark, they'll go up the mountain into different areas of the mountains here. And you'll be able to see in the drone shots that I took on the main channel every night they sleep in a different place. Sometimes they'll sleep on the sides of cliffs because it's safer and there's no prey in that area.

00:09:05 John Daub: When the winds are really strong you can see these trees don't have any leaves on them, so if strong winds and snows come they'll go to these pine trees and they'll go in here for cover. And I thought that was really interesting. The monkey society knows. There is an alpha male down there and I have videoed him so you can find him in a couple of weeks when I put the video up on YouTube. Usually this place will have about two to three thousand people visiting a day but because there aren't any international tourists here it's down to about 150 to 200 people a day, which is not a lot. So I really do hope that tourism comes back really soon.

00:10:00 John Daub: I would love to just jump in there with them right but I don't think they would appreciate it and it is not that clean. Okay so if you like monkeys don't forget to click that like button and encourage me on the road to keep on bringing you these stories. I want to thank everybody who's been supporting the channel as a member, I really appreciate it. And since the pandemic is starting to, I don't want to say become endemic, but it's getting a lot easier to travel now that I've been vaccinated three times. How warm is the water? Lisa O, excellent question. The water is the same temperature as about the onsen that you would find for people, but this is an interesting point. The water here is not as warm as the water over there where the sources, where the water is coming out. So there are different kinds, just like there are humans that like hotter water in the onsen baths. There are monkeys that are the same way. And the monkeys that like hot water will soak closer to this side of the bath. And the monkeys that prefer to have kind of a cooler bath are these dudes over here just hanging out. But it's still pretty warm. Temperature's about 40 to 43 degrees Celsius.

00:11:45 John Daub: So there's a lot more than just monkeys in a hot tub. This is a society here. There's a purpose. There's a story. And that's why I am here filming for the Only in Japan main channel. It's going to be a really good video. Amy JMB, thanks for being a traveler for 18 months. I really appreciate that. I wanted to take you all here today. Ronald writes in here, monkeys are dangerous? And the answer is they could be, but these monkeys here, because the park is here, they found sort of a harmony. And I've noticed that these monkeys don't get into a lot of trouble and they're well-fed, so they don't steal like other monkeys would. And I haven't seen any incidences, but I know that within their own society it could be a little bit worrying. But for humans, I have not seen that happen much.

00:13:01 John Daub: I think he wants to come where I'm sitting, so I'm going to just move for him. Yeah, there you go. I've been watching these guys here for a while, so I know I'm starting to learn their patterns here. The more time I spend here, the more I start to feel like I know the society of monkeys. He's still steaming. You can see him steaming from the hot water. And there he goes up the mountain.

00:13:36 John Daub: So to get here, probably the best bet is to take the Shinkansen to Nagano, and then there are buses that will come up this way. Or you can rent a car. I rented a car, it was about four hours from Tokyo and drove here. It's a really nice drive. The parking is free. The ticket is 800 yen to enter, 400 yen for kids, which I think is very reasonable. And you can stay as long as you want, although it is pretty chilly and my hands are numb. And this is Takizawa-san, who has again been working here for 23 years. He's taken some pictures too. And I'm going to be interviewing him for the channel about the society and the history of this place. I hope that enhances your own experience when you do decide to come here.

00:14:32 John Daub: I've been wanting to come to this monkey park for a long time in the winter. It's just so beautiful. And you can see the snow around. Let me pan around a little bit. There's no one here. Hachi. The blue band is a college student. So these are the university students here with the blue bands on their arms. And they come here to study the monkeys and observe and take notes. This place is really neat like that because you can get pretty close. And since they are used to humans, there's no fear really. And that's kind of a unique situation because you can observe the way that they interact with one another. And the monkey community, the monkey society is pretty interesting when you get into it. I've only been here for two days, but I'm starting to learn the hierarchy here. And there is one. There's one of the big bosses there. Within the monkey society, there's a number one, the number two and a number three and a number four. And they know who the bosses are. And you can tell which one's number one and number two and number three, because the number three bows down to number two and number one. So it's really interesting.

00:15:59 John Daub: Is there a place where you can bathe with the monkeys? I wouldn't recommend it. It's really dirty and you can get fungus and worms and all sorts of other really nasty stuff as a result of bathing with the monkeys. But this water that's running down the river here is somewhat warm too. It all comes from the ground. So that's why it doesn't freeze over. And you can see in the distance over here, there is a ryokan (Japanese inn) here. Do you see that where the smoke is coming out? And that ryokan needs to be booked about three months in advance. So if you stay there, I think some of the monkeys might come into the bath. But again, the monkeys are not very clean and you don't want to be taking a bath with a monkey. I know it seems like it would be a lot of fun, but it's not. Again, I've stepped in poo when I got in the car yesterday. The whole car smelled like monkey poo. So you got to make sure you clean your feet too. Clean your shoes off.

00:17:08 John Daub: But it is a lot of fun. And I'm really happy that I got a chance to come here and spend two days observing and filming them. And I think it'll be a fun video for everybody to watch when I upload it. Again, here he goes. He's just walking right across here. And when you do come here, you will be walking and living—you'll be standing among the monkeys here. Eric G writes in here, please go to Kokuya Ryokan. Love the place and miss it very much. Haven't been there since the pandemic. Have a nice day in Yudanaka, one of my favorite places in Japan. This is a really great place. And the communities and the towns all around this area are absolutely beautiful. I stayed in a town nearby because that was the closest, Ryokan Amagase, I think it was called. Such a wonderful experience. They have a bath outside with the snow falling. And last night, the snow was falling down from through the roof area. And I'm sitting naked in a bath enjoying the situation. There were no other people around that area that came to the bath with me. I had it all to myself. It was one of the most peaceful experiences when you're taking a bath outside at night with snow falling. It's just a magical experience. And that's why, that's the reason why you do come out to places like this.

00:18:33 John Daub: So let's say goodbye to the monkeys. I gotta get back to working here, but I'm really happy I got a chance to share with you this experience before I leave for a very long drive back to Tokyo. Cool. I hope that gives you a pretty good overview of Monkey Park. See everybody. Have a good day. Have a good night. Catch you in another live stream tomorrow.