JIGOKUDANI YAEN KOEN — Snow Monkey Park

While staying in Yokohama, my friend and I took a side trip for two days and one night to Jigokudani Yaenkoen, or Snow Monkey Park. It was one of the things I absolutely did not want to miss when I visited Japan so, despite the distance we went anyway. In fact, Jigokudani combines three of my favorite things: small animals, winter and baths. Although monkeys can be found throughout Japan the monkeys at Jigokudani are famous for relaxing in the area's natural hot springs. These monkeys are the only mammals in the world besides humans known to immerse themselves in hot water for recreation.

According to the park's website, after noticing that groups of monkeys were sitting in small hot spring pools during the winter, villagers worked to enlarge these pools and, as the same monkey groups returned year after year, began supplementing the monkeys' diets with grains during the winter. The park was born out of this connection and the regularity of the monkey tribe's movements has allowed scientists to study these monkeys more in-depth. The species to which these monkeys belong is that of Japanese Macaques and they are known to travel in large family groups under one king or leader. However, the website makes clear that these are still wild animals and tourists should be wary, especially when photographing or getting near mothers and babies.

The monkey park is located in the mountains around Nagano, a city north-west of Tokyo. Nagano is now known for its many ski-resorts, but long before the ski resorts or monkey park were drawing tourists this area's hot springs were a destination for Japanese vacationers. So, while traveling to see the monkeys, we took the chance to fulfill one of my other wishes: to visit a Japanese onsen (natural hot spring bath).

The town we stayed in was called Shibu Onsen. It was within walking distance of the monkey park and had only three or four streets lined from end to end with ryokan (traditional Japanese inns). This was a real onsen town, completely organized around the tourist industry with a few farms here and there. In my research I learned that there is a whole culture surrounding ryokan, whose closest western equivalents are bed and breakfasts. When staying at a ryokan you pay per person per night with the price being higher or lower depending on the number of tatami mats in your room (aka the room size) and the level of your meals (most ryokan I looked at had 2 or 3 levels of meals that you could choose from).

Most places were full by the time we were making our reservations, but we managed to book a 9-mat room at Senshinkan Matsuya Ryokan. We opted for breakfast and dinner at the first level which was delicious anyway. Both meals involved several courses including sashimi, miso, a meat dish, an egg dish, pickled fruit, noodles, rice, tea and dessert. We were only staying for one night, but it was enough to enjoy the peaceful austerity of the ryokan. The hostess offered us tea when we first arrived, showed us around our rooms and showed us how to take the bus to the snow monkey park. When we returned that evening our host asked us what time we would like to have dinner, then at 6:30 sharp, we received a call from the dining room telling us our dinner was served. I'm not much of a foodie, but trying all the different flavors in the meal was fun and the ryokan itself was a beautiful, old building.

The view from our room at Senshinkan Matsuya Ryokan.

Our tatami room at Matsuya included a kotatsu — a table with a blanket placed around the edge and a heat source underneath to keep you toasty while you sit.

The monkey park was everything we had hoped, but to get to it we had to take a local bus a few blocks and then hike through the forest up to the park's entrance. We happened to be there during a mild spell (travel blogs had warned us about freezing toes) so it wasn't cold, especially once we got moving. However, the deep snow drifts testified to colder weather and made the narrow path slippery. The path going up the mountain was about 4 feet wide and when groups of tourists passed each other going up and down they edge around each other in single files. I saw quite a few tourists slip and fall in the snow and it did not look fun. We passed quite a few Korean and Japanese families. a large number of European 30-somethings and a few other Americans who were confirming negative stereotypes by drinking beer and smoking cigarettes on the way down the trail. In a nature preserve! I was so mad. But they were leaving so we just avoided eye-contact and passed by.

At the beginning of our hike up to the snow monkey park.

The mountain was covered in tall, thin pines.

The park itself was not large, but the sheer number of monkeys running around and their indifference to humans made it well worth the hike. As soon as we walked in monkeys were running by us, grooming themselves in the trees and digging through the snow. Walking down to the hot springs we found monkeys bathing, including many mothers and babies, and a large herd of humans taking pictures expensive cameras. The monkeys did not care at all and most just enjoyed the hot water lazily. The babies were more curious, investigating their visitors and playing on the railings — one even ran over my boots!

After our hike back and dinner I wanted to go check out the baths that give Shibu Onsen its name. Shibu Onsen is home to 9 public hot spring baths and multiple ryokans, each of which has its own private baths as well. Residents of the town and those staying at ryokan are given a bathhouse key which unlocks the doors of every bathhouse in the town. Each bath is said to be beneficial for a different ailment and visiting all of them in order is said to give the bather good luck. I didn't have much time after dinner so I didn't go to all the baths. I decided to skip the ones labeled skin diseases and stomach sickness just in case. To go to the baths I put on my cotton yukata from the ryokan and grabbed a towel and bathhouse key. At first I tried to use the wooden sandals (the kind with two wodden slats on the bottom), but after stumbling in them for a block I went back and traded them for regular flip-flops, making the host laugh.

Trying on my yukata.

A typical public bath — most of the buildings were old and very simple. It's the water and not the decor that brings people to the onsen town.

All along the streets you could hear the rush of moving water — the sound of pipes channeling hot spring water to the baths. It really felt like something out of Spirited Away, walking at dusk with the snow and the water everywhere. I stopped in about 5 of the baths, each of which had a women's side and a men's side. Inside the entry-way was a sort of locker room with wooden cubbies for bather's possessions. Here you change out of your yukata before moving into the bath area. The baths all varied in size, but were uniformly scalding. Some were made of stone, others wood and all had vents opening right into the night sky to let out steam. Most also had a tap channeling cold water to adjust the temperature of the tub, but I tended to find that they made little to no difference in the heat. There was just too much hot water. At one of my stops some older Japanese women showed me how to rinse off using the wooden buckets on the floor before entering each bath. Most of the baths were much deeper and larger than Korean baths, making them fun to splash around in. I finally went back to the room sleepy and warm. The next day was an early series of trains back to Tokyo and visiting more friends there. 

How many snow monkeys can you spot?

TOKYO ~ YOKOHAMA

Making our personalized cup ramen at the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama.

After traveling around Kyoto and Hiroshima for several days, C and I traveled north to see Tokyo and visit some of C's friends from undergrad. We spent about four days with them exploring Tokyo and staying in Yokohama (Tokyo's neighbor and the second largest city) with one of C's friends. The friend we were staying with was doing a year-long intensive Japanese Language program in Yokohama and was able to show us a bit of everyday life in Japan.

Cup Noodles of the world.

While staying with her we played in arcades, took sticker pictures, sang karaoke and ate everything we could find. Since C's friend is living in Yokohama she was able to take us to all her favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants and hangouts. One of the best places we visited was a dessert buffet at the top of one of Yokohama's giant shopping malls. Apparently these buffets are popular throughout Japan and provide a hangout for friends and couples. We even saw a student studying there while we ate. The basic concept is that you pay to stay in the restaurant for several hours (I can't remember exactly how long, but they didn't need to kick anyone out for staying too long) and get access to as many desserts, teas, coffees and snacks as you want — a delicious and relaxing afternoon.

The other attraction we visited in Yokohama was the Cup Noodle Museum which was much better than I expected. We walked through the surprisingly informative exhibit about the origin of cup noodles, watched short animated video about the inventor of cup noodles and finally created our own personal cup of noodles at the cup noodle factory. The entire experience was inexpensive and fun.

Endless dessert buffet in Yokohama.

Since we were busy seeing friends I didn't get as many photos of Tokyo, but we visited some of the famous neighborhoods including Akihabara, where I enjoyed reminiscing over video games I used to play and manga series I never finished, Harajuku, where everything was as cute as hoped, and Shinjuku where we visited the Pokemon Cafe! I'm not much of a city person and we didn't have enough time to explore even half of Tokyo, but we still got a good taste of the city and a chance to see Japan from the perspective of someone living there.

Entering the streets of Harajuku.

Why Kpop?

This weekend is the start of Chuseok (Korean mid-fall holiday)! 추석 잘 보내세요! My friend invited me to celebrate the holiday with her and her Korean teachers who were having a Chuseok party/Korean conversation table this Friday. It felt a little awkward speaking Korean again, but I soon warmed up to the topic at hand: Kpop. One of the Korean teachers caught us watching Ikon's new music video and asked why we think so many international audiences love Kpop.

It's a question I've often asked myself: why is Kpop so addicting? The first answers that come to mind for most people are production value and talent. Korea's entertainment industry is highly competitive and regimented. Most groups produce few full-length albums, but many singles and mini-albums. Under this system, companies are able to throw huge amounts of money into a single music video. At the same time, artists train under a company anywhere from two to seven years before even debuting. The intensive training in singing, dance and grooming means every group has a certain level of excellence. These are all important aspects of Kpop's magnetism, but I think this answer is misdirecting — as our Korean teacher said, Bruno Mars is also a very talented singer and dancer.

Psy's "Gangnam Style" was not only wildly popular across the world, but is a prime example of Korean celebrity crossover. The music video features guest appearances by singer Hyuna and comedians like Yoo Jae Suk (Running Man) and Lee Hong Chul (Infinity Challenge).

Another answer can be found in Euny Hong's The Birth of Korean Cool, which came out in 2014 in the wake of Psy's "Gangnam Style." Personally, I have many problems with the book as it hastily glosses over many of the details and implications of the case studies it presents (perhaps in an effort to be published while still relevant — already in 2014 Psy felt like old news in the swiftly changing Korean pop-culture market). Hong answers the Kpop question with two words: government marketing.

She argues that Kpop has achieved the worldwide success it has due to aggressive government branding, intervention and support. As she notes, Korea has a ministry devoted to the promotion of Korean cultural products including Kpop. Besides financial support to help grow the industry (an action not as foreign as we in America might like to think, *cough* bailouts) Hong cites the compelling example of one Minister of Culture who traveled to Paris where he organized French Kpop fans into a cohesive group agitating for venues to book Kpop concerts in Paris. The issue was publicized through a Kpop dance flash mob which the Minister of Culture, and Hong, mark as a turning point in international demand for Kpop.

There's no denying that direct governmental interventions such as the case above have influenced the spread of Kpop, but it sidesteps the question of why people actually like Kpop. Even for the government to stir up demand there had to be an underlying interest.

One answer I've found is that Korean pop culture is built on a symbiotic loop that gives audiences access to idols in a constant variety of situations. In the U.S. actors turned singers and singers turned actors are both rare and rarely successful, but in Korea that kind of crossover is almost expected. By appearing regularly on variety shows, radio programs and in dramas and films idols allow fans to follow their story and build personal/emotional connections to their favorite stars. Singers in the U.S. sometimes follow similar methods (look at the huge success of the Justin Bieber documentary and continuing phenomenon), but the Korean entertainment industry is set up to support this kind of personal branding.

The cast of Roommate season 2 included singers, actors and comedians living together in a 'share house' and going on fun outings together. The show brought more widespread fame to rookie singers Jackson (GOT7) and Youngji (KARA).

Most variety and reality shows — Running Man, Roommate, Happy Together, I Got Married, Law of the Jungle, Hello Counselor (the list goes on and on) — either draw their cast entirely from idols or regularly feature idol guests. At the same time, music shows like Mnet Countdown, Inkigayo, Music Bank and Weekly Idol both support and rely on the quick turnover of Kpop singles. As a further illustration of the symbiosis between the two industries, many comedians and hosts will also release singles, further blurring the line between entertainer and singer.

Through youtube and social media fans are drawn into an ever expanding loop of interest. For example, a fan of 2NE1 might watch a variety program where members of 2NE1 appeared and enjoy the show so much that the fan begins to follow show itself. Drawing the example even further, that fan might then, in the course of watching their new favorite variety show be exposed to an idol who they find particularly funny and then begin listening to that idol's music. Television and music are always working together to increase each others' viewerships. It's an amazing system and prompts viewers to become invested in their favorite idols' lives and careers. To cite the Justin Bieber phenomenon again, its success and the success of Kpop both come from viewers' thirsts for personal celebrity connections.

In Win — Who is Next? Team A and Team B competed to see who could win over the audience and make their debut.

What this says about celebrity culture and human relationships in the 21st century is a question I would love to learn more about, but instead I want to leave you with a recommendation for what I think is one of the most successful examples of Kpop fanbase creation: Win — Who is Next?

Win was produced by YG Entertainment as a survival competition between two groups of trainees. In the end the show asked the viewers to vote on which group they wanted to see debut the most. Eventually both groups debuted, although the group that lost had to go through another round of survival tv before that. Through this show the resulting Kpop groups — Winner and Ikon — were able to debut with large fanbases devoted to their hopes and struggles.

Hiroshima continued: Miyajima

Miyajima temple and torii gate.

After our visit to the Peace Museum we jumped back on the street car and headed towards Miyajima harbor to catch a ferry to the island of Miyajima, just 30 minutes outside of Hiroshima. Another perk of the rail pass is that it covers rides on Japan Rail's Miyajima ferry as well. When we arrived at the dock a ferry was preparing to leave. The attendant barely glanced at our passes and instead yelled at us to run. So we ran onto the ferry as the very last passengers before it pushed off.

Miyajima is most famous for its floating temple and torii gate. Neither is literally floating, but they appear to float at high tide since they are built on stilts. At low tide when the water recedes you can walk right out to the gate. We were lucky enough to arrive as the tide was going out and were able to see both before we left.

Floating torii gate at high tide.

The other main features of Miyajima are its natural beauty (rated by a medieval Japanese scholar as one of the most beautiful spots in Japan), its deer and its food (fresh conger eel, oysters and maple leaf bread).

After visiting the torii gate and taking some pictures we went in search of lunch. On the island there is one main market near the dock with a host of restaurants and souvenir shops. A few people do live on the island (we walked through several tiny neighborhood streets), but for the most part this area seemed geared at tourists. No problem there though as it was charming. We settled on a family run eel restaurant where we got an udon/grilled eel set. I wasn't a huge fan of the eel myself, but my friend said it was very good.

Steamed eel buns "Always makes you smile!"

This restaurant had a fan.

After lunch we explored the island. Every view was beautiful and I wish we had had time for a real hike there, but instead we wandered, enjoying the scenery and visiting a temple here and there. It helped that the weather remained a striking combination of bright sunlight threatened by storm clouds in the distance.

We also took time to play with the deer which were everywhere. The more famous place to see deer in Japan is Nara, the difference being Nara has an actual deer park where you can feed the deer and it is more accessible from Kyoto and Tokyo. On Miyajima the deer roam across the whole island and are not supposed to be fed. There are numerous signs warning tourists not to feed the deer in myriad languages, but it's clear they were largely ignored. We caught one deer persistently loitering outside a restaurant and another boldly nosing in tourists' pockets.

After walking back from the temple we spent a little more time eating our way through the market. My favorite would have to be the fresh grilled oysters cooked in their shells with cheese — delicious! I was scared to try them at first, but my friend insisted and I'm glad she did. We also bought a set of the different maple breads made on the island. Unfortunately they weren't maple flavored breads, but maple leaf shaped breads with a variety of fillings — red bean, chocolate, custard, espresso.

For our final excursion we returned to the torii gate now at low tide. The stream of people walking out to its pillars looked almost like a pilgrimage, all of them so small in the ocean's emptied basin.

Catching a late afternoon ferry back to Hiroshima, we just had time to stop by Hiroshima Castle before continuing back to the hostel, exhausted and full.

Hiroshima Castle

Hiroshima

Atom Bomb Dome (Peace Dome), Hiroshima

We arrived in Hiroshima the in the evening, having said goodbye to the rabbits on Okunoshima earlier that day. I immediately liked the feel of the city which was a little old fashioned and slow. The train station was smaller than Osaka or Kyoto and full of elementary students in sailor uniforms. The students matched all the way down to their socks and up to their floppy hats.

Hiroshima is one of the few places in Japan that still has a street car system rather than a subway. Following the directions to our hostel, we got on one of the Hiroden line cars (1, 2, 6). We were taking the Hiroden line to Hacchoubori, where we needed to transfer to the Hakushima line. One quirk of the Hiroshima trolley system was the presence of uniformed conductors walking up and down the aisles asking people if they needed change. In order to transfer we paid for the ride on the Hiroden line and told the driver "To Hakushima, please," so he would give us a transfer card. The Hakushima line was very small, so we sat by the driver and watched him direct the trolley via a large switchboard.

Our hostel in Hiroshima, Guesthouse Roku, was wonderful — one of my favorite places we stayed. The guesthouse was in a traditional Japanese house and when we arrived the staff were chatting in the screened porch which doubled as dining room and bar. They were all very friendly and invited us to come down and have a drink after we got settled in.

View from my bunk at Guesthouse Roku. It was such a gorgeous old-style house and very comfortable too.

Narrow hallways at Guesthouse Roku.

That night we went out to taste Hiroshima's famous food — Okonomiyaki! For those of you who don't know, Okonomiyaki is a large layered pancake grilled in front of you on a giant steel slab. The basic ingredients are batter, shredded cabbage and green onions and from there anything goes. Common variations include seafood like squid or shrimp, other grilled meat, cheese, rice cake, vegetables or all the preceding. Delicious!

We only planned one full day in Hiroshima, so the next day we left early to see the Hiroshima Peace Museum soon after it opened at 9am. They day was alternately bright and drizzling as we walked through the Peace Park. The Atomic Bomb Dome was undergoing renovation when we visited, but was still impressive. Next to the Dome are photographs showing Hiroshima before the bomb was dropped and just days after. In the second picture, the dome is easily located as a single building in a field of rubble.

Anyone visiting Hiroshima and anyone interested in peace or war should visit the monument and the museum there. Using photos, artifacts, recreations and interviews the museum tells the story of that one day and its aftermath. The tone is never accusatory or angry, but documents the horrific results of the atomic bomb. Walking through the exhibits I felt that no distopian wasteland could be more terrible than the personal accounts I was reading. I learned that although the bomb did a lot of damage when it detonated equally terrible were the fires created from the reverse wind of the bomb.

We left the museum sobered, but also impressed by our interactions with the staff and volunteers who really seem committed to promoting peace around the world.

Okunoshima: Rabbit Island

The eastern coast of Japan is sprinkled with small islands, some no more than islets, stretching off into the Pacific. One such island is Okunoshima. With a handful of residents, Okunoshima was used, during WWII, as a poison gas manufacturing site and today the ruins of these factories are still marked as unsafe. The groundwater there contains high levels of arsenic and hikers must be careful where they walk. However, someone visiting the island today would notice none of these dark reminders at first glance. More noticeable are the palm trees, jewel-like sea and roaming herds of rabbits.

Featured in articles by The Gaurdian and BBC Okunoshima is now famous across the world as 'rabbit island.' An exact population count is currently unavailable but the small island is home to hundreds, if not thousands of the critters. So how did they come to live there?

One legend claims that the rabbits are descended from escaped lab rabbits, used to test the effects of poison gases during the war. However, records show that all those rabbits were killed when the factories shut down at the end of the war. Others say that pet rabbits were released on the island by school children during a field trip.

While their origin is unknown the reason the rabbit population has survived, and thrived, on Okunoshima does lead back to the poison gas factories during WWII. At that time all residents of the island, including all livestock and pets, were evacuated and after the war fear of contamination left Okunoshima uninhabited for many years. When the rabbits were introduced it was to essentially a private bunny paradise, free from all predators including human ones like cars and highways. Today, the island is inhabited by a few people, mostly supported by the tourist industry the bunnies now attract. In order to protect the rabbits, motor vehicles, except for those that carry guests to the single hotel, are prohibited.

We traveled to Okunoshima one sunny day from Kyoto, taking the express train to Osaka, then a slower train to Mihara and finally a tiny local train to Tadanoumi. (When we first told the Japan Rail representative where we wanted to go, he had no idea what we were saying. We had pronounced the station as Ta-da-noo-mi, when, as it turned out, we should have been saying Ta-da-no-oo-mi. When we finally got it right, he found it immediately.) I had thought riding the local trains in Japan would just be a hassle, but they turned out to have the best views of the countryside that we saw during our time. The high-speed trains need relatively straight and smooth tracks so they tend to cut straight through the country, but the local train trailed along the coast giving us gorgeous mountain/ocean views the whole way.

Tadanoumi turned out to be barely more than a station and a post office. We followed the other passengers who got off there around the corner to the ferry terminal where we bought round-trip ferry tickets and three paper bags of bunny chow. The ferry was more of an oversize speed boat, but the trip only took 10-15 minutes.

Since we were stopping at the island on our way to Hiroshima we had all our luggage with us. This was convenient, since it is a bit of a trek to get there, but caused some trouble since the storage lockers were only big enough for a small to medium suitcase. My friend's small roller-bag was just a twinge too large and the hotel wouldn't watch it for us so we had to carry it the whole time. This was fine since we were there to see the rabbits rather than serious hiking, but if you do want to be more mobile I suggest leaving your luggage elsewhere.

After that we walked along the beach and played with the rabbits. It was winter and while there were still many rabbits around we didn't encounter the mobs I had seen in some youtube videos. Still, the rabbits were adorable and very curious. We played with them for around two hours until it began to rain and everyone, furry or otherwise, ran for cover.

En-route to Tadanoumi 

Bunny play-time

No sense of personal space...

Okunoshima's lone hotel, seems a bit spooky to me...

Well, hello there

Mealtime for Peter Rabbit

Goodbye bunnies!