We are traveling through the rural side of Japan. This is the famous Samurai walk, which used to connect Kyoto with Tokyo. There are quite a few signs warning that we might encounter a bear.
These bells along the path are to scare them away. See how many cute little monkeys! I want to be like them.
Wow! How cute, how beautiful is the winter in Japanese villages. We are in Japan and today we have come to visit the very famous, very epic park of the snow monkeys that soak their balls in boiling water.
A very nice thing that I personally have been seeing for years on social media and finally we can experience it firsthand. This is in Nagano prefecture, in a small town called Yudanaka, which basically lives on tourism for the apes. Everywhere you go you see ape signs, come to the onsen, soak like a macaque.
Now, small, big disadvantage, this is an experience a town that seemed very, very touristy to me. I went to see videos on networks before the trip and olo, borgo, it looks crowded, but really hard. So we came very early, right at the opening of the park.
So, So, come on, our ancestors, the Japanese snow apes, are waiting for us. Ikemashō. Ah See!
Someone is passing by on a motorcycle! Let's see, I guess you're smart, but you slip so little or you called. Well, honestly, the walk very nice, very nice, very well laid out.
Clearly, this is very touristy. And yes, despite the fact that we arrived very early, there are already a lot of people on the road. Ah!
Look, we started to see poop. What poop could it be? Of a macaque or maybe of a human who couldn't take it anymore, right?
You're walking here, there are no bathrooms, clearly. Come on! And what follows.
Ah! Memen, there are more and more turds. Poop after poop, after poop.
We are getting closer, already flying, to those snow apes. We arrive at a place where the only hotel is, up here in the park, a traditional hotel, very beautiful, and from here we start to see little changuitos, there preening themselves, casually pecking their butts. And I want to tell you that the original idea was to stay in this hotel.
So, a little before the ringleader, we called: Hey, I want to book a room. For when? No, for February.
That is, for the year 2025. And they laughed, but they laughed hard. I mean, you really have to book months in advance.
See that, those people who are soaking in boiling water and the little changuitos are with them. And how hot the water comes out here. Imagine stumbling in there.
Ramen a la Luisillo is what you prepare in a matter of seconds. Now we've entered the Jigoku Deni park, aka where the kemonitos come to soak their traceritos. And wow, it sure is beautiful.
There are just too many of them. Part of me said: Let's see if we see monkeys, chance we had a bad day. I was afraid that I would be the only ape in the park, but no, there are a lot of them and it is really beautiful.
Asking around to some of the workers in the park, they tell us that the changuitos come here during the day and at night they go back to the mountain, sleep in trees and live a reality completely in nature. But during the day, of course they like to come here, because in the park they get manna apples, they get seeds, here they have the best water. I imagine that some of them even enjoy being visited by so many humans every day.
It's really funny to see them after they get wet, because you realize that what really makes them chubby is their fur, as if they have an eternal coat, but when they are wet they are skinny, but skinny. Me, before I get in the shower, skinny, but paunchy. And you know what I'm finding especially nice, the fact that, although yes, this park is very touristy, but very touristy, dozens and dozens of people keep arriving, it feels very respectful.
There is an area that looks like a press corner, where you see all the cameramen with their big lenses. Here everybody keeps their safe distance, nobody tries to touch them, to caress them. And wow, suddenly it's time to witness some embarrassment.
They grab here, they fight. They're quite territorial. And I love that they feel like a cooperative society.
They're grooming each other, all of a sudden one or the other copulates right there in front of everybody. See it's clear to me why Darwin developed his theory that we come from monkeys. Yes, we are very much alike.
Humans and apes enjoy wholesale, seeing the asses of our species mates, eating, getting fat and re-dipping ourselves in boiling water. We are very simple species, very similar. See how tender it is, how do you see them all of a sudden?
The little son riding the mother. No man, how beautiful. There is a part like a little roofed museum, let's call it, where they exhibit skeletons of macaques and also skulls of other animals, like wild boars, for example.
You can also see here monkey hair, see this. It is leafy, leafy. So you won't be left wondering what it's like to pet it, without actually risking getting your finger bitten off.
Now, my question is, will this be real or will it be synthetic? And if it is real, how did they get it? Questions.
And the park is basically that, it's not that big. I would say in about two hours of walking back and forth, you explore it in its entirety. And let's have a little nip of big bad Nipponese land here, with my carnals, the apes.
What a beautiful moment. Come on, a salutita, a kampai, for the health of the apes, for their welfare, for how beautiful they are. Otskare samades, kampai.
Wow, what a lovely little village this is, Yudanaka. There are 10,000 to 15,000 people living here and it does indeed look like an old village, even a little bit fantastic. Metasma.
You see lots and lots of abandoned buildings, lots and lots of worn out signs. On the streets, you hardly see people passing by? Really, could I stand here?
There's no risk of getting run over. And check this out, this little machine we found on the street right now. It's rare to see them nowadays in Japan.
They are alcohol machines on the street, just like this, at street pace. It's not so usual anymore, especially because they are machines that don't ask you for identification to verify that you are of legal age. Yes, I'm on the street, I'm craving a beer, please.
And that's it, check that out. No ID or anything. Of course, nowadays it is difficult to find them because young people of any age could come to grab a beer, but yes, check it out here, in the middle of the street in Japan, we are going to have a beer.
By the way, it is totally legal to drink alcohol in the streets of Japan, all good. And yes, look. Here we are toasting with our colleagues in the street without any problem.
I imagine that many of you have seen the movie "Spirited Away", because this place was the inspiration for some of the scenes of the hot baths. Yes, you know when Chihiro has to uncover the shit monster and pour more hot water on it? This is where the scenery was inspired.
Wow, this is going to be great. Next we are going to do part of the ancient Nacendo route. This route is the one that used to connect the Kyoto region with the current Tokyo area, the west with the east, a road of more than 500 kilometers with 69 stops, whose purpose was to promote cultural exchange and of course, trade.
Quite a long time ago and people used to walk this route on buffalo, on horseback. Wow! Undoubtedly, something historically very valuable and that is super beautifully preserved.
See all the old houses. Just today it snowed hard. It has a charm, look how special.
Of the 69 stops, more than 500 kilometers that the route covers, today we will only make one stop, about four or five kilometers. So come on, let's feel like real samurais. How beautiful this hike is, wow!
I love to see the stores everywhere, the little houses. I am impressed that there are people living on the samurai route. You are literally living on top of a piece of Japanese history.
That's as cool as it is beautiful. And I would love to take advantage of this beautiful panorama to quickly make a mention of our sponsor, which again is HolaFly, because check it out, even though we are in the middle of the Samurai route, look how we have full signal, LTE speed. As I've told you before, HolaFly is an excellent service that allows you to have data on your phone practically anywhere in the world.
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No! And we've reached the part where the town ends. Right there, here behind me, we already left the villages.
Nacayama-san stayed over there. How scary that suddenly on the road you come across caution signs. Presence of bears.
Olo, Borgo, I don't want to meet one here. I have everything to lose. And look at this, this is incredible.
You come across these little bells along the hike that, for the avoidance of doubt, even the sign is in several languages, check out how it says: Ring the Bell Hard Against Bears. That is, ring the bell if you see a bear. So, if all of a sudden you are walking along, and you are very calm: Yes, my love, the snow is beautiful, and all of a sudden there is a bear, what you have to do is: you get on your friend's or your friend's shoulders to pretend to be a bigger species and you make a sound?
That way you're going to scare him and at the same time you're going to start. . .
. Then, in theory, this is going to disturb the bear and it will run away. .
. . And you might have a chance to save your life.
After a while, we did find a stop. I thought there weren't going to be any more mangoes. .
. . What a nice stop we ran into.
Some old men are the owners of this chiringuito, and what a charácts. They gave us here a sake, a warm nihonshu. Great for a tasty recovery.
And yes, you can see that this is the obligatory stop for all those who do the route. It's not bad for the grandparents to go. .
. . .
. . .
. Wow, what beautiful old people! I loved them.
How cute. There was even a snowball fight. See, I tell you, they are everywhere.
Although, come to think of it, right now the bears are hibernating, so, in theory we are fine. But how about a brother, I woke him up with my screams here recording. He's going to wake up doubly enraged.
And yes, look, again, another bell. But, bro, this is scary, there are bells that are broken. Here I would have to have a stick to ring it.
You're not going to scare any bears with this, brother. But none of them. You're even going to make him roll over.
And you get to parts where the road just disappears into the snow. No, this is super awesome. And look, I made them for you, a friend of mine who has already been to Alaska and Lapland and Greenland.
No, really, how fucking snowy. It's awesome. And I love that the umbrella is transparent.
So, you go under trees and you can see all the snow above you. At some point on the Y, we reach civilization again. There are already several little houses.
Check this out. Wow! What beautiful houses.
Look at this! And the lake is frozen there. People live beautifully here.
They live beautifully, but with frozen balls. It's so funny how the houses here, look how they put their clothes there to dry. It will dry one day.
I think they freeze, but that's how they dry, dry. Wake up like this, your stiff T-shirt. Let's start the day with your shirt all stiff.
Look that this route in summer must have its singular beauty, because I imagine that all these businesses will be open, right now everything is closed. And yes, look how classic it looks here with the little cart, here the famous Tanuki. I love the architecture of these villages, it is like being transported back in time.
Along the way one also finds a lot of abandoned houses. Of course, an example is this one here, you can see what a mansion it is, it is a small house, but it is all full of weeds, branches, the windows with holes in them. This type of houses, which at the risk of being wrong, are known as okia, which are houses that are sold with the idea that they will be renovated.
They are usually sold very cheaply. Let's see, in this area I don't know, but I have seen in other areas of Japan, maybe that's how it works, that you can buy a house of that size for the equivalent of about 40,000 dollars, 30,000, maybe less. But it is with the idea that you renovate them, the bad thing is that many times they are very worn out inside, they have a very old structure, so you end up spending a lot.
Someday we will make a video about that, focusing on that topic, because it is very interesting. At the risk of being wrong, I will say that these are abandoned by their mere appearance. I tell you, for example, in this business, you see, this is like a straw horse.
Surely in the summer there is a gentleman like that: Come and have your picture taken, right? And little kids riding on the horse and so on. You come and eat a candy in here.
And here the tanuki, you show your little eggs. In the winter I will say that visually it is much more beautiful and also to walk in the summer, a sweatshirt of balls annoying, but yes it has to be much more alive. One for the other, what is nice right now is that there are very few tourists.
And a great advantage of the Japanese vending machines now in winter is that, you see, we have already talked about this before, they have a selection of hot beverages, so you can buy your hot Cocoa, your hot tea, even a hot corn soup. So, now it's time to drop in, but it's a bit rough. Let's see, I want my corn soup, 150 ¥.
Please, very hot. Yes, please. It even warms up the hand, how tasty.
And yes, here, in the snow, we stir. We open. How delicious.
No, man. Here, in the snow of Japan, pouring our Jihaki soup. And how delicious, it fell on me.
Like a kiss from my deceased grandmother on my tummy. Tasty. And that's it, we reached the end of the walk.
How nice it was, very nice. Now, the thing is that I am too hungry and everything is closed, really, none of these stores are open, there is nowhere to relax, there is nowhere to warm up. We were lucky to find the old men's stall back there.
So, here we will take a shuttle back to the nearest little town, but how lovely. Really, it's beautiful. Every minute worth it, every step worth it, every moment of being cold, this is divine.
How about that? A fragment of the old road connecting Kyoto with Tokyo. Historically, a very important route, very valuable.
Well there you have it, a little bit of the rural side of Japan during the winter, wow, what beauty, what scenery, what traditions and how much history. Honestly, I love traveling around Japan and discovering new areas, it's something I'm passionate about. As you have seen, I read them below in the comments.
Thank you very much for joining me in one more adventure. See you, as always, as you know, in a few days with a new video. Bye.
