Jigokudani Yaen-Koen, Nagano Prefecture

Last month, Theresa (a.k.a. Sayuri) and I visited the Jigokudani snow monkey park in central Japan, which was established in 1964. It is a place where the interesting lifestyle of the Japanese macaque can be observed up close. Here the monkeys enjoy onsen baths.  

The park is located in the valley of the Yokoyu River which flows from Shiga Kogen in the northern part of Nagano Prefecture. People named the area Jigokudani or Hell's Valley because the steep cliffs & hot water bursting from the Earth's surface resembled Hell. In reality, it is a winter paradise for a few hundred snow monkeys.

They are so used to being photographed that they go about their monkey business oblivious to the hordes of camera-toting paparazzi. The Japanese macaque has a highly structured society. In their lives, they form close relationships with each other and each monkey fulfills specific roles within their group.

Human visitors have to hike a scenic 2km (treacherous when icy) forest trail into the park. They are strictly prohibited from touching or feeding the monkeys. Only the park rangers can supplement the monkeys' winter diet by throwing them grains several times a day, much to the delight of park visitors.

Tsubakino Hotel, Yudanaka Onsen Village

To make our odyssey in wild snow monkey terrain less of a hellish ordeal, we decided to "camp" for 6 nights in the nearby onsen village of Yudanaka. We found a comfortable, modern ryokan hotel Tsubakino, with a unique rooftop onsen.

The hotel pipes hotspring water up to 3 different bathing facilities on its rooftop, comprising a women's only, men's only and a cosy private onsen. After hours of trekking in the freezing cold, imagine us soaking away our aches and being invigorated while watching snow fall in the evening light. Ahh, no wonder the monkeys know how to "onsen" in winter ! All in, we hiked into the park on 4 different days & saw the cute fluffballs under all kinds of wintry conditions.

To complete the ryokan experience, every night we had gastronomic multi-course Japanese meals served by an affable personal waiter, Kodama Takanori. And despite full reservations every night, the chef Ichimura Tatsuya lovingly created exquisite items of freshly-prepared local produce as well as delicacies from far-flung regions of Japan. For example puffer fish, smoked duck, wild vegetable tempura and sakura ice-cream !

The hotel manager, Shozo Tagawa and the CEO Hideaki Yumoto were exemplary in their leadership & management, giving us such personal attention. Late one morning, Shozo himself drove us in the hotel's minivan to the monkey park when we couldn't catch the local bus or available taxi. On that particular day, we wanted to time our hike to coincide with a predicted mid-afternoon snowfall.What could be more praise-worthy? Service par excellence :-)

Each afternoon, after a strenuous hike, we also found time to enjoy the freshest salmon-avocado sushi & salad at our favourite Enza Café just outside the monkey park. Good food, good hiking and wonderful relaxation in an onsen hotel just about sums up our idea of a real vacation in Japan.

The Metropolitan Marunouchi Hotel, Tokyo

We chose to stay at the Metropolitan Marunouchi for the simple reason that it was adjacent to Tokyo Station with great food and shopping.

Every night, we would head out to our favourite ramen shop, Hakata Umauma in the Kitchen Street of Tokyo Station. Given the inclement weather in winter, it was also reassuring to know that most times, pedestrians could walk along sheltered pathways and the underground. At night, from our 31st floor corner hotel room, we could gaze upon the twinkling lights of metropolitan Tokyo, all the way to Tokyo Bay.

Interesting places like the Ginza and the Imperial Palace were just 30minutes away on foot. Our JR Pass could grant us even more mobility further afield if we had the inclination to do so.

Theresa was delighted when she located her favourite Cath Kidston outlet. She bought herself 2 pairs of limited edition designer Gola-Cath Kidston trainers which she was unable to get in Singapore or through the internet.

Just a few blocks further down the road, I was equally thrilled to locate the giant Bic Camera retail outlet where they stocked up an impressive range of Panasonic lenses like the ultra-compact 12-32mm wide-angle zoom.