Jigokudani Onsen Korakukan Dinner

Jigokudani Onsen Korakukan Dinner www.jigokudanionsen.com

I took the bullet train to Nagano then a bus to Jigokudani.  I was deposited at the foot of a mountain where I was told to hike up the trail with my backpack. It was becoming dark and I didn't know how long the hike would be. The trek took me past a waterfall, and to the ryokan where I would be staying the night. It's the kind of place where every step you take makes a squeak from the wood.  There was a geyser outside my window that gushed water about 200 feet into the sky all night long without ever stopping.  The snow monkeys liked to warm themselves in the geyser water pool.

The Jigokudani Yaen-koen (altitude 850 meters) is located in the Valley of Yokoyu River sourced from Shiga-Kogen of the Joshinetsu-Kogen National Park in northern part of Nagano prefecture. Because of the very steep cliffs and the steam coming off the springs in everywhere, ancient people called this valley ‘Jigokudani (Hell valley)’. Also it is buried in snow almost one third of the year. Even that kind of severe environment here is a paradise on earth for monkeys to live in. The troops of wild Japanese macaque (they are popularly known as snow monkeys) inhabit here naturally through the ages.