After a rush of work, I wanted to make the most out of my winter vacation. Thanks to some new friends, I was given the opportunity to make it over to Nagano for a mini-vacation.

The spectacular drive from Gunma to Nagano was wonderfully scenic. The winding mountian road was flanked by misty, fog-covered mountians.

Once in Nagao, we stopped by Zenko-ji Temple, which houses one of the first wooden Buddha statues in Japan. Along the walkway to the temple, the pedestrian street is lined with souvenir stalls and small restaurants. Past these and through the Ah-um, the massive statues that protect the temple, is a large brass vessel, protected by a lion statue. This is used for ceremonial incense and for the price of 100 yen (~$1 USD), you can get a bundle of incense to put into the vessel, and use the smoke to heal any ailments you may have. Inside the temple, there are prayer areas, a statue of Buddha’s student of medicine (which you can rub for the healing of aches and pains), and what I call the “Labyrinth of darkness”. For 500 yen you can wonder the basement labyrinth of the temple. I put my shoes into the plastic bag they gave me, and made my way to the stairs. Instructed by the pamphlet that said to keep my belongings in my left hand and my right hand on the wall, I ventured into the darkness with my two new comrades and delved into the pitch black. I used to work at a planetarium, so darkness doesn’t scare me, but even at the darkest in the planetarium there were small lights that you could use for guidance. The darkness came in ‘levels’ that could guide you to where you were or needed to be. Not here. In the basement was nothing to guide me but the cold wood that trailed under my fingers as I wondered through the blackness. I noticed after bumping into my friend ahead of me a few times, even my sense of sound was off from the echoing of the wrinkling of plastic bags, the voices of people behind me and the indiscernible footsteps. But alas, I rounded the last corner to the the faint trickle of light coming down the stairs of the exit.

When leaving the temples we stopped briefly for some Soba noodles, which I flavored with the pepper spices that are the signature cuisine of Nagano.

After the temple we made our way north to Nakano, which is famous for its Snow Monkey Park. The clan of 160 Japanese snow Macaques are unique for primates, as they are the only ones (other than Humans) that live at this latitude, bath in hot springs, and make snowballs to throw for fun. The Macaques have had 14 ‘bosses’, or alpha males since this clan started being observed and recoded for the park. The pictures of them can be found in the small gift shop/museum/place-to-warm-up near the onsen pools. The snow monkey park has an entrance fee of 500 yen, and it is recommended to go in winter, when the monkeys visit the pool to escape the cool air. We went in the late afternoon/early evening just before feeding time, and one of the park attendants was helping tourists take pictures with a macaque, using a call to get them to look at the camera. The first thing he said as I handed him my point-and-soot was “don’t look at him in the eye”. As an anthropologist, it think ‘duh’, but then I realize that many people probably haven’t read up on Diane Fossey and Jane Goodall, so here it is: Looking at a primate in the eye can be taken as a sign of aggression. If you challenge the wrong member of the group, it could get very dangerous very fast. With that safety tip out of the way, I highly recommend visiting this park, where it monkeys and humans walk amongst one another so easily and without fear.

At the end of the day, we checked into our share house (Guest House in Sazuka, http://www.ghkura.com) which is very reasonably priced, very clean, and was wonderful to experience a traditional Japanese house. They offer free Wifi, a Cafe, Bike rental, parking, and a big garden for barbequing and tent camping. Dorm beds start at 3,000 yen and is well located for both the Zenkoji Temple and the Monkey Park. When we arrived, we were greeting by a very nice English speaking staff, and they had complementary tea waiting for us. They able to give us some good recommendation for dinner, and I had my first experience with a sushi restaurant that the sushi is served via a conveyor belt that runs by the table, and a train that comes direct from the kitchen.

The next morning, we had a traditional breakfast at the guesthouse (300 yen) and then went to hit the slopes. In Sugadaria Kogen, the ski area of Nippon Davos (which is 3 smaller ski areas, Pine Break, Davos-Taro, and Davos) are located on the slopes of Mt. Neko-Dake (2,207m, or ~7,241 feet). A lift ticket (4,800 yen/full day) is good for all three areas, and offers an array of difficulty marked similarly to the states for easy, intermediate and difficult (green, red instead of blue, and black runs). Once we had our ski/snowboard rentals (3,800 yen/day) and all our gear to keep us warm (3,000 yen/day) we made our way to the lifts for some amazing powder, short lift lines and small crowds. To a ski junky, it was heaven.