Iwatayama Monkey Park

This was one of the most amazing things I've done in Japan, and thus in my entire life.

First, I went to Arashiyama, an old style town built around a river (but I will put all that in the next post). In Arashiyama is the Iwatayama Monkey Park, with promise of seeing wild monkeys.



I thought it might be interesting, so I payed the 560-Yen admission to the park, and started to climb the mountain along the path.



and I climbed...



and climbed...



and climbed...




Until I got to the top and realized that I had been greatly under-informed about the monkeys.















That's right, the lot of 120 monkeys were EVERYWHERE, just sitting, walking, eating, and playing amongst the humans that come to see them. It was simply amazing to interact with wild monkeys like this (and a bit exhilarating when one of the alpha-males chased me off; a bit camera-shy.)

I'll post video soon (it's not uploading right now)

Bancho Dance-oh

This really made my day.

*edit* Oh yeah, this post is totally dedicated to Erin.






For those of you who don't know, these guys are the epitome of the "bancho" or "tough-guy" stereotype (pompadour and all). Why they were in a circle dancing to Japanese 50's-American style music is beyond me but boy am I glad they were.

Aomori Prefecture

Aomori prefecture was simply beautiful. Unlike the old-town city of Kyoto or the crazyness that is Tokyo, Aomori is filled with a very beautiful natural environment. It's so neat to see the huge rice fields being worked on by resident farmers.
I'm gonna keep the photo-count short on this one, because the connection here is slow, but rest assured that there are plenty more to be seen for those who are interested after I get back.