Day 6: Jigokudani Yaen-Koen (Snow Monkey Park) + Kanazawa

Definitely an early start for us today. Everyone we had spoken to about visiting the Snow Monkey Park had advised us to take the earliest possible bus. Waking up at 7am, we proceeded to check out of the hotel and left our luggages by reception for the day. Arriving at Nagano bus terminal at 7.50am, we were the second group in line for the 8.30am bus. The crowd steadily grew and a mere 15 minutes later, there were about 50 people in line. All for the first bus!

It seems that Alpico, the local bus company, understands the popularity of this bus route and as such, had procedures to account for the high demand. About seven staff arrived purely for the JIgokudani bus route. They setup a makeshift table as a base of operations and divided their roles. One person stood at the start of the line to see if any of us need to purchase tickets (to save time so no one has to pay the driver) while the others managed the ever growing line.

By the time the our bus arrived, we overhead the staff assuring the rest of the customers that extra buses have already been ordered to account for the high demand. Very impressive.

From Nagano station, it was about a 45 minute bus ride up the mountains to Jigokudani. If you like snowscapes, staying awake for the bus ride is a must. It had also started snowing at this point — boding well for the chances we would see some Japanese Macaque taking a bath in their natural hot spring pool.

On arrival, there were multiple staff directing visitors towards the correct path to the entrance of the park. It would be a 15 minute walk to the entrance to the park with a toilet stop on the way. Crampons were also available to hire at the entrance of the park for a low fee. We skipped the crampons and chose to trust our hiking sneakers.

The crowds at this time weren’t too bad and I struck up conversation with a father and his family visiting from Tennessee, USA. He was taking photos of some of the nice Subarus we walked past on the way in, a fellow JDM aficionado!

From the entrance of the park, it would be about a 25 minute hike through snowy trails to the location of the hot spring where the macaques frequent.

The hike was beautiful. There was a fair bit of ice on the trail but nothing we couldn’t manage. Hiking past some pretty steep slopes, our fellow travellers were pretty considerate and everyone stuck to their side of the trail. What struck me was the amount of Japanese locals visiting from other prefectures and cities for the holidays.

Once we arrived at the kiosk, the tickets were 1200yen per adult with no option of reentry. I highly recommend that you purchase the Snow Monkey Pass prior. It covers the return fare of the bus trip as well as the entry costs. An added bonus is that you can pretty much head straight towards the entry way without having to queue to purchase tickets.

As we weren’t away of the pass beforehand, we waited about 10 minutes to purchase our tickets and… we were in!

The first thing that struck us was how little man made elements were in the area. Other than a couple sets of stairs and handles, most of the environment is kept as natural as possible. There are no barriers that restrict the movements of the macaques. Multiple staff were spread out to ensure no visitors touch or feed the macaques.

The macaques didn’t seem to mind the presence of humans at all. Many of them walked past us unfazed, some even brushed past our legs. We took a selfie by the first set of stairs with a couple of monkeys in the background and they had suddenly decided to spring into “action”. See for yourselves…

I found myself transfixed by the sight of troops of macaques simply chilling in the onsen. There are two sides in which visitors can view them and both areas are pretty much right next to the onsen. All the visitors seem to have kept their respectful distances and not interfere with the macaques’ daily routine. I plonked myself between a German couple who were there with their telephoto lenses; as was I. I spent about 25 minutes shooting away while enjoying the different behaviours on show. At some point a large troop descended down the mountains and the current group promptly vacated to make way for this new group. Mean girls much?

By the time we had decided to leave, many of the macaques were beginning to leave the onsen and head off for the next part of their day — searching for food.

As we exited the kiosk, Cherry and I realised that the line for entry had grown all the way down to the stairs. Goodness! That’s about a 40 to 50 minute wait if you find yourself at the end of that line. Go early.

We took a leisurely hike back to the entrance and finally, the bus stop.

Seeing that the queue for the bus tickets were really long, we went for the scenic route. This involves catching a local bus to Yudanaka station, and then catching the local train back to Nagano. It added about 15 minutes of travel time but the views on the Yudanaka train were well worth it! It goes through some really flat snowy terrain with beautiful snowy mountains ahead of us.

Arriving back in Nagano, we had a bit of time left to collect our luggages from the hotel lobby before our Shinkansen departs for Kanazawa at 4.15pm. Having our hotel near the station means we don’t have to chance the luggage lockers even if they are plenty in supply.

From Nagano, it takes just over an hour to get to Kanazawa on the Kagayaki Shinkansen. Most trains were still running reservations only carriages as we were still within the peak holiday period.

We arrived to a rainy Kanazawa. Our hotel, Koko Hotel Premier was located in Korinbo which was a 10 minute bus ride away or a 20 minute walk. Given the rain and our luggages, the bus was our preferred option this evening. Suica does not work with the local buses here unless you are catching the JR Korinbo Loop Bus. There is also the option for tourists to purchase the One Day Bus Pass for 800yen, only at Kanazawa station. The pass gives you unlimited rides around town and offers some discounts for some sightseeing attractions. We passed, as it was just a one way ride tonight for us.

Koko Hotel Premier was in a great location for shopping and sightseeing in Kanazawa. Pretty much a 10 minute walk to Omicho market as well as Kenroukuen. Despite paying the same 3-star hotel prices we have been paying for the trip so far, Koko Hotel Premier definitely felt more premium, perhaps due to how new the hotel building was. Free alcohol and snacks were available daily from 3pm to 9pm.

We relaxed for a bit in the lobby with free sake before leaving for our first and only omakase meal for the trip. A local restaurant named Hatanaka, created and helmed by two female chefs. Hatanaka uses only ingredients found in the Ishikawa prefecture. Cherry is always awesome especially when it comes to researching and booking interesting places for good food!

Our menu for the night. It was an omakase dinner with the option to add a full crab course per person.

The first course was Shirako with vinegared rice in a yuzu broth. This particular Shirako is from a Cod. Shirako is milt, basically a sperm-filled gland. Shirako is an acquired taste. I did not enjoy Shirako personally. Despite the yuzu broth, it left a lasting taste in my mouth. It is considered to be a delicacy however, just not by me.

Bagai (type of shellfish) and its liver. Love the crunchy texture.

Fatty Yellowtail Sashimi with seared skin. The skin was very very very crispy.

Nigiri Course: Perch Tataki and Sweet Prawn with roe and brain. I have always enjoyed eating prawn heads… this was a no brainer for me (sorry).

From the top and clockwise: Daikon purée, fried ginkgo two ways, lightly fried taro, vinegared permission.

This dish is a masterpiece. Whole female snow crab, all the edible parts of the crab has been carefully de-shelled. Stuffed with crab meat and both the inside and outside roe. The finishing on top are the crab legs. On the side, roe mixed with vinegared rice.

Squid with yuzu shio and yellowtail belly nigiri. The squid was super tender and the yellowtail belly, extra fatty!

Hibachi grilled yellow tailed with shiitake mushroom. Hatanaka is really redefining our experience with eating yellowtail!

Meji-maguro (small/baby tuna). Lean cuts are sought after and flavourful with Meiji-maguro.

Warm nigiri: snapper with sake. Ochazuke style.

Unagi handroll — deliciously smoked and grilled.

Coconut and kiwi ice-cream with genmaicha. This was a very solid end to the meal. Can’t state that enough.

Despite being a somewhat fine dining experience, the entire atmosphere was relaxed and chilled. Hatanaka’s goal is to create a place where people can enjoy food while having a focus on… the people. Throughout our entire dining experience, the staff made every effort to ensure they could explain every course in detail, in English. When they got stuck, they made sure to find the correct words afterwards.

The cost per person tonight was: 18,500 yen which was omakase + crab course per person. Roughly $190 AUD per person.

Sushi and Japanese Cuisine Hatanaka

4-21 Konohanamachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0852

With our tummies filled, we opted to walk back to our accomodation and settle in for the night. Tomorrow, we visit Kenroukuen as well as Kanazawa Castle. No early starts though!