One of the real treats of any visit to Kamikochi is a glimpse of animals in their natural habitat. As perhaps the most most iconic species of local fauna, the nihonzaru or “Japanese Macaque” naturally features in a lot of photos and anecdotes brought back from the park. But these mercurial monkeys have also been cause for concern of late, leading to reminders from official sources about the dos and don’ts of encountering them.
Yes, we’ve spoken about this before and yes, it will be on the test.
Nothing to see here. Move along…
There are three main rules for monkey encounters, which may be summarized as:
「近づきすぎない、目を合わせない、餌をあげない」
- Don’t get two close. They might become agitated and attack, potentially injuring themselves or curious park visitors.
- Don’t make eye contact. This might anger them. See above.
- Don’t give them food. Apart from intruding on the park’s ecology, feeding monkeys also entails getting closer than you should. So don’t.
Makes sense, right?
On a happier note, Kamikochi’s many bird species are less dangerous and prone to anger than its monkeys. Let’s have a look at some choice pics from the NPG Kamikochi blog:
Here we see a Japanese Bush Warbler. The normally placid little guy lets loose an imposing cry of alarm at the first sign of danger (seen here due to a deft use of digital photography):
Elsewhere we see an alumnus of previous posts, the Narcissus Flycatcher:
We’d like to thank the bloggers at NPG once more for access to their wonderful pictures and insightful comments. Top notch stuff!
As mentioned in other recent blogs, the rainy season is here and there are likley to be quite a few rainy days in the following weeks. Be sure to check the forecast and pack rain wear (even if the forecast does not call for rain).
That’s all for these week. We wish all prospective visitors a safe and enjoyable time in Kamikochi.
Sources of Information:
National Park Guide Kamikochi blog: https://npg-alps.net/blog/today/17146/ and https://npg-alps.net/blog/today/17161/
