Hey everybody, welcome to Nagano, this is the G Goku Donnie Snow Monkey Park and they have pretty decent wifi here so I could bring you a live stream.

Boom there, they are in the onsen bath and we're gonna 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 uh got moved back to 12 o'clock and that's when I was going to start the live stream.

So we got to do that right now.

This is Takizawa San who's been working here for 23 years, 22, years.

You can see the monkeys are all about out and about right now because they just, we just, we just uh put the food out for them and it was quite an experience to see all of the, all of the movie or barley, They're having a fight down there, check it out.

There's some drama, the Little Guy one that's a big deal when the little guy wins, it is a beautiful area.

Let me pan over here.

Now this place is called G.

Goku Donnie and Donnie means 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 and I'm gonna have to seriously wash my backpack because the monkeys, although that they are, you know, quite civilized.

They're monkeys.

They poo everywhere and the poo is all over the place and I didn't realize that Now my bag smells like um monkey poo.

So I'm gonna have to really scrub that when I get back home.

So keep in mind you don't want to bring bags and put it down anywhere because it's gonna just just smell like monkey poo.

I'm gonna take you over to the, that in a second.

Harvest jp, ask a really good question.

Can monkeys, 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 a good idea.

Um those can, those that are interested can watch me on the live camera to, this is a live camera feed.

There's two of them.

There's also one up here, so on the Jig Kakutani, the monkey park website.

Let me give you the link.

So you can go and check that out.

Heb rondonia, I guess the link isn't right there, but Chico cordani live camera might do the trick on and google.

Let me take you down here.

It's pretty amazing that oh there it is right there, there's the live camera link, Go, go Danny hyphen jane cohen dot C or that jp, get a little grooming.

I am jealous.

Now the monkey society here, it's more than just bathing and in fact, you might not guess it by looking at them, but they don't like to get wet just like cats.

But the lesser of two evils, I guess it's getting wet than being cold and it is about 0° 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 be, he seems to like it the most Tomiko is here.

Okay, Did your son say?

Well, 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.

So right, there's the the Bocian, she's 23 years old.

So there were none.

Say monday, Wow.

About 25 to 30 years they live.

So they usually they can live 25-30 years, but usually about 20 years.

Look at this little guy looks like leo, look, it's just a little baby.

Are you seeing this?

There's still a little bit of barley down there for them to eat.

Here's another interesting point that I've learned?

I've been here for two days now, this is my second day, the monkeys actually, what was I gonna say?

I completely forgot what I was gonna say by observing them.

I've been observing the people who come here and the japanese, most of them think it's scary, they go Kauai Kauai Kauai when the monkeys come close to them and the foreigners, the non japanese that live here in japan of course there's no no international tourism here right now.

They think it's just so cute and they're not scared at all because I guess they dont 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, I want to approach the monkeys.

That that was just really a unique point here.

Thank you lisa.

Oh and Andrew Fort Wayne.

These monkeys have better bathing accommodations than I do and when they come out with their for tap down like this, they look like little lions, you're not 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 they're quite used to it just because of the, 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 gonna 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 and ah, I think it's pretty special.

It's more than just monkeys in a bath.

All right.

There's more to this place than just that in the winter.

There's really not a lot of food for the monkeys and um, you know, they get a search for the food and sometimes they can terrorize local farms as well.

So having places like this is a sanctuary, not only keeps them safe, gives them some care.

Um, people can kind of, the stuff 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, um, they'll come down in the morning like around 6 30 in the morning and then at night around five or six pm 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 pray in that area and I'm not even sure what the prey our besides humans that would take out these monkeys, but when the winds are really strong, you can see these trees don't have any leaves on them.

So they, if strong winds and, and snows come, they'll go to these trees that are the 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, you can find him in a couple of in a couple of weeks when I put the video up on to Youtube.

Um, usually this place will have about 2-3,000 people visiting a day, but because there aren't any international tourism here, it's down to about 150-200 people a day, which is not a lot.

So I really do hope that that tourism comes back really soon and if you saw the update earlier, I think it will because there are a lot of businesses that aren't doing so well.

Oh my gosh, you know, 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 wanna thank everybody who's been supporting the channel as a member.

I really appreciate it.

And patreon supporters as well.

I'm back on the road 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?

Oh, excellent.

Question.

The water is the same temperature is about the only person that you would find for people.

But this is an interesting point.

Okay, 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 um 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 stand, will 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 and they kind of like a a cooler bath But it's still pretty warm temperatures about 40-43°C. So there's a lot, there's a lot more than just monkeys in a hot tub.

This is, there's a society here, there's a, 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 gonna be, I think it's gonna be a really good video amy Jmb.

Thanks for being a Traveler for 18 months.

I really appreciate that.

I wanted to, I wanted to take you take you all here today.

Um Ronald Reagan here monkeys are dangerous question mark 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 anybody any incidences but I know that within their own society it could be, it could be a little bit worrying but I've seen some fights break out between them but for humans I have not seen that happen much.

I think he wants to come where I'm sitting so I'm gonna 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 started to feel like I know the society of monkeys, he's still steaming.

You could see him steaming from the hot water and there he goes up the mountain.

So to get here probably the best bet is to take the shinkansen Um to Nagano and then there are busses that will come up to this way or you can rent a car.

I rented a car from Tokyo and drove here about uh 44 hours.

It's about um a little bit over four hours and 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 um, you can stay as long as you want, although I think it is pretty chilly and my hands are numb And uh, this is Takizawa San who has again been working here for 2022, 23 years.

He's taken some pictures too and I'm gonna be interviewing him for the channel about the society and and the history of this place.

And I hope that enhances your own experience when you do decide to come here.

Um I've been wanting to come to this monkey park for 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, daddy.

So these are university students here at the blue bands on their arms and they come here to study the monkeys and observe and take notes.

And you know, this place is really neat like that because you can um get pretty close and since they are used to humans, they don't, they're not, 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.

Um and the monkey community.

The monkey society is pretty, it's pretty interesting when you get into it.

And again, I've been only been here for two days, but I'm starting to learn this 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 number three and 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 that it's really interesting.

Is there a place where you can bathe at the monkeys?

I don't I wouldn't recommend it.

Um It's 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.

I wouldn't recommend it.

But um this water that's that's running down the river here, it is somewhat warm to, it all comes from the ground so that that's why it doesn't freeze over.

Um And you can see in the distance over here there isn't a yoke on here, you see that where the smoke is coming out and that joe con uh 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 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 again like for those that are writing in because this is a live stream, it's not okay.

Again I stepped in poo and I got in the car yesterday and the whole car smelled like monkey poo.

So you gotta make sure you clean your feet too clean your shoes off.

But it is, it is a lot of fun and I'm really happy that I, I got a chance to, to, to come here and spend two days observing and filming them.

Uh, and uh, I think it'll be a fun video for, for everybody to watch when I upload it again.

Here he goes, you're just walking right across here.

And when you do come here, you will be walking and living.

Um, you'll be standing among the monkeys here, eric G writes in here.

Please go to videocon.

Love the, love the place and miss it very much.

I haven't been there since the pandemic strategy to have a nice day in uh, you tanaka, one of my favorite places in Japan.

This is a really great place in the communities and the towns all around this area are absolutely beautiful.

I stayed in a town nearby because that was the closest Yukon um, a gas.

So I think it was called such a wonderful experience.

They have a bath outside with the snow falling and last night the snow is falling down from uh, through through the roof area and I'm sitting naked in a bath, enjoying the situation that there was no, there were no other people around that area.

Uh, that, that came to the bath with me.

I had it all to myself.

It was one of the most peaceful experiences when you're, when you're taking a bath outside at night with snow falling.