Japan | Claudia & Carsten's World Expedition

JAPAN - Nagano - Gala Yuzawa - Zao Onsen

Shinkansen to Nagano Nagano is where the famous Japanese Macaque - also known as Snow Monkeys - live, so we took a trip there to see them. It was around 2 hours by train from Tokyo and another hour by bus from Nagano.	On the road	Arrival in Nagano The train driver finishes his duty here.
Bus from Nagano to the Park	Jigokudani Wild Snow Monkey Park Right next to this area, there is a Japanese Inn (Ryokan in Japanese) called Korakukan. They had an outside Onsen (hot spring) which was meant to be used by the guests, but in order to fight the cold winters, the local monkeys began to use it too. Since monkeys do all their "monkey business" inside the Onsen and it could not be shared with humans, in 1964 the Ryokan decided to build a pool for the monkeys in the valley where they lived; so that was how this tradition started.	Walking in the park

	Here they are! They were being fed when we arrived, so they all had come out of the pool and we had to wait to see if any of them would jump back in the water. They only do it when the weather is very cold or snowing and this day was not very cold.

The pool I have to say it is a small pool, I imagined it to be a much larger place. It has also become extremely touristic and it was full of people when we arrived. Luckily, since the monkeys were not in the water, most people left, so we had a more quiet time once some monkeys did finally go in the water.



Lunch at the local Soba restaurant These thin noodles are called Soba in Japanese. This soup was very tasty. We tried it in Brazil before with some Brazilian-Japanese friends.		Next train...Gala Yuzawa Next day we decided to catch another Shinkansen to go skiing in Gala Yuzawa. This is the usual weekend skiing spot of people from Tokyo. It takes less than 2 hours to reach Gala Yuzawa and once you get off the train and go up the stairs, you are in the reception area of the ski center. From the reception area, where you rent your gear, you take a 10-15 minute cabin lift and you are skiing! It cannot be easier. Great day, great snow, great equipment!
	View from the valley We were in Gala Yuzawa on February 28th, which is equivalent to last day of August in the Southern Hemisphere. On that day, Gala Yuzawa still had 3 meters of base snow. After USA, Japan is the place where the ski areas get most snowfalls in the world. In Niseko, the famous ski center in Hokkaido, they get up to 11 meters of snow in winter.

Baymax	The Bell of Love

	Next destination, Zao Onsen	Our hotel Gala Yuzawa was so great that we decided to check out other ski destinations in Japan. Hokkaido was the obvious choice, but it was cumbersome to get there by train and we didn't want to fly, so we decided to visit Zao Onsen which lies close to Yamagata in the region of Tohoku. It was around 3 hours by train from Tokyo plus one hour by bus from Yamagata.
Traditional Japanese room	Traditional bathrobe too	First night dinner
Local speciality Cheese cacerole	Traditional Japanese Breakfast It was very, very good.	Zao Onsen Zao Onsen has three main lifts and plenty of chair lifts, but most of the slopes are easy, so it's not much fun on snowboard because there are many areas where you need to walk. It was very cold on the day we were there and the day before the temperature was above 0 degrees, so the slopes were very icy when we were there.
Snow Monsters	Snow Monsters Zao Onsen is famous for its "Snow Monsters", which are the trees from the top of the mountain that are covered in snow and ice all winter.	Cold!!!! The top of the lifts stands at around 1.700 mt above sea level. The wind chill factor was about -17C that day, so all the upper slopes had become ice and we were very cold when this picture was taken!!



		Men Onsen in our hotel Onsen are generally split between men and women because you bathe naked. Before you bathe, you need to clean yourself with the shower and soap provided. Pictures are not allowed inside the Onsen area, so this was a sneaky peeky that Carsten took while there was nobody there. Carsten went to a much nicer Onsen outside the hotel, but we don't have pictures from that one.

JAPAN - Nagano - Gala Yuzawa - Zao Onsen

Shinkansen to Nagano

Nagano is where the famous Japanese Macaque - also known as Snow Monkeys - live, so we took a trip there to see them. It was around 2 hours by train from Tokyo and another hour by bus from Nagano.

On the road

Arrival in Nagano

The train driver finishes his duty here.

Bus from Nagano to the Park

Jigokudani Wild Snow Monkey Park

Walking in the park

Here they are!

They were being fed when we arrived, so they all had come out of the pool and we had to wait to see if any of them would jump back in the water. They only do it when the weather is very cold or snowing and this day was not very cold.

The pool

I have to say it is a small pool, I imagined it to be a much larger place. It has also become extremely touristic and it was full of people when we arrived. Luckily, since the monkeys were not in the water, most people left, so we had a more quiet time once some monkeys did finally go in the water.

Lunch at the local Soba restaurant

These thin noodles are called Soba in Japanese. This soup was very tasty. We tried it in Brazil before with some Brazilian-Japanese friends.

Next train...Gala Yuzawa

View from the valley

Baymax

The Bell of Love

Next destination, Zao Onsen

Our hotel

Traditional Japanese room

Traditional bathrobe too

First night dinner

Local speciality

Cheese cacerole

Traditional Japanese Breakfast

It was very, very good.

Zao Onsen

Snow Monsters

Snow Monsters

Zao Onsen is famous for its "Snow Monsters", which are the trees from the top of the mountain that are covered in snow and ice all winter.

Cold!!!!

The top of the lifts stands at around 1.700 mt above sea level. The wind chill factor was about -17C that day, so all the upper slopes had become ice and we were very cold when this picture was taken!!

Men Onsen in our hotel