Nagano

aka: MONKEYS!

I have a bad habit of avoiding posts like this one. The trip to Nagano was a full one; I don't want to leave anything out, but I have a hard time telling myself that I have the time to write up the entry properly. So, forgive my brevity - it's all in the name of getting something down "on paper."


Early on a Saturday morning, I met up with Caitlin, Odelia, and Aaron, and we made our way up to Nagano. This brought about my first ride on a shinkansen, or bullet train, and I can say we had quite the experience. There are two "classes" on the bullet trains - reserved, where you are given a seat number and are ensured a place to sit, and unreserved, where seating is first come, first serve. The former is some $30 more expensive than the latter, but, after our experience, I understood why someone who was riding the train for a while would want to do it.


So, we got to Nagano after several long train rides, only to embark on another long train ride (and, subsequently, a bus ride and a half-hour long walk) to get to the Jigokudani Monkey Park. The lengthy travel time was worth our while, however, for the monkeys were a wonderful addition to my "Look What I Did In Japan" stories.

For starters, there's no distinction between "monkey areas" and "people areas." In short, anywhere they monkeys want to go is classified as "monkey area," even if that might invade one's personal-space bubble.

All in all, though, the monkeys were cute and we had a good time.

After our run in with monkeys, the four of us went back to Nagano to see one of the largest wooden buildings in Tokyo, the Zenkōji temple. It was beautiful, and featured one of the better sights of my Japanese trips - a vending machine for protective charms.



Dark was falling as we left the temple, so we hurried to buy our famous, Nagano-only shichimi ("seven flavor") spice mix from Yawataya Isogoro and find a place where we could eat miso-flavored ice cream, both of which I officially label as "awesome and delicious." We then made our slow way back to the train station, claimed our spots on the Shinkansen (no problems getting seats on the ride back), and relaxed our way home.

One thing I should note is that I finally got my hands on an ekiben, or a "train station boxed lunch." I even bought a kind that is famous: the Takasaki "daruma bento," which comes in a box in the shape of a daruma doll. Sadly, I was disappointed by my bento for not being delicious and tasty. Perhaps I would do better to get one earlier in the day, rather than when the store is almost completely out of bento...

(Credit to Odelia for the shinkansen shot and the monkey-on-Leslie shot.)