Wild Snow Monkeys and Matsumoto Castle

This past weekend (Jan. 24) we went on a fabulous trip to Nagano prefecture, the location of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games. The scenery was wonderful as we drove around the Japanese Alps and we got our first taste of real cold and snow in Japan.

The first stop of the day was at the Wild Snow Monkey Park. These Japanese monkeys live in a hot springs area on a mountain and actually bathe in the hot springs. They really do seem to be wild - they are timid when humans get too close but as long as you are just walking around and looking they go about their business. It was a neat experience to watch them play in the snow and then hop into the "hot tub". The hike up was not too difficult although the trail was covered with snow and ice. There are signs on the way up telling you the names of different birds and animals to be looking for and we took a picture of one bird called an Alpine Accentor. On our way back down it started snowing and the temperature dropped and we were very glad to be back on the bus. We stopped quickly to take a picture in the snow in front of the shrine - maybe next year's Christmas card!

Next we drove about 45 minutes to Matsumoto Castle. This castle is one of the oldest five tiered castles in Japan and is the most intact of any Japanese castle. We learned that the difference between Japanese and European castles is that the Japanese castles are made of wood rather than stone so it really is impressive that any of them still exist. The castle is painted black which is unusual for a Japanese castle - they are usually painted white. Because of its black color, the nickname for this castle is Crow Castle. The castle was very cold and we had to take our shoes off and wear slippers while we walked inside. There were some collections of guns and Samurai uniforms inside the castle. The woodwork on the interior was amazing - it looked like they used whole trees as the support beams.

We would like to go back and visit the castle when it is warmer. We saw pictures when flowers are in bloom and it is quite beautiful. Our next trip is to Sapporo for the Snow Festival so be looking for more cold weather pictures in a few weeks!