No Monkeys for You!

Mr. T and I went to Nikko last weekend, a spot in the mountains known for its rich cultural heritage, cooler-than-Tokyo climate, and hot springs.  Also, Nikko is home to many wild monkeys.  T and I wanted to see some wild monkeys.  We really, really like monkeys.  Yes, we were warned of the dangers of monkeys ("They'll steal your purse/camera/backpack. . .etc."), and yet such admonitions likely made us want to find some wild monkeys even more. 

Alas, throughout our two whole days in the countryside, we didn't see one friggin' monkey.

Instead, we had to content ourselves with the rare spectacle that was an authentic Shinto wedding ceremony at Toshogu shrine.  It was pretty cool, actually, in a next-best-thing-to-monkeys sort of way. . .

Comments

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The monkeys up there are definitely a lot of fun, but they're not always around. The best place to run into them up there is around Utsunomiya onsen, if I recall correctly.

If you want a more reliable Authentic Monkey Experience™ and can make it out to Hiroshima-ken, there's a whole village of them that live by the top ropeway station on Miyajima. Plenty of opportunities for photography and hanging out with the monkeys, as they don't seem to mind humans at all.

Not quite as funny as having monkeys hop into the rotemburo with you, which happens occasionally up by Utsunomiya, but at least they're there every day. :)