A colony of 200 or so macaques is living in Jogokudani Park about an hour drive north from Hoshinoya resort (in Karuizawa) where we stayed.
It started in the 60s when a villager put food out of town (and near a hot spring) to keep the snow monkeys away from the village. The monkeys soon found that sitting in the hot water during the bitterly cold winter was quite enjoyable.
It was not below freezing when we visited, but you can see from the monkey's expression that soaking in a tub, while having your back rubbed was not so bad. (sounds pretty good!)
...yoga?
The drive from the valley up to the Park was beautiful and exhilarating.
a pretty good snow monkey life
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