I am very happy to say I arrived safely early this month in Nagano for my third session photographing and filming the Snow Monkeys of Northern Japan. There was some doubt if I would be able to make a viable trip this early in the year as there was only one brief snowfall late November and reports were showing the Monkeys as absent from the hot spring zone for nearly half of the recorded days even into early December. However I was tracking a small storm system carefully and the arrival was perfectly timed with the opening of the park, which meant I was destined for an uncomfortable nights sleep on the midnight bus!
I arrived at Nagano Station once again before sunrise and waited in the cold semi open air area for the first morning train to arrive. Unlike my last visit there was no howling wind, and the train did not arrive decorated in snow and icicles. The heater even worked this time! Alas it can’t always be a test in arctic preparedness. I spent the first 20 minutes of the ride ensuring all of my gear was ready, double checking lens glass for cleanliness along with my camera, testing the gloves I bought on my way to the bus as my old gloves were falling apart, and finally seeing the first hints of light on the fresh winter landscape emerging for the first time this winter. To my surprise the snow was indeed falling already ahead of schedule, so much that photos outside of the train were difficult. It didn’t stop me from trying though as freshly dusted trees atop mountain peaks found their way through the snow and clouds allowing just the slightest hints of morning light to greet them and give me enough hope of capturing something special, to move around the train car from side to side in a slightly comical spectical for the early morning riders. Thankfully there was a Japanese man that was even more exited about passing trains taking video and vlogging, and a more subdued gentleman with a nice point and shoot fuji camera which made us instant buddies. He explained he was just hoping trains taking photos with no intention of getting off (a common thing and even encouraged by some train lines). We said our good byes at the next station and I went on my way.
Arriving at the gate 10 minutes before opening this time, and astonishingly first in line with a british couple I befriended on the final bus to the park, I was very happy to see far more monkeys than I had hoped for, and in fact far more than the already large number which greeted me last year. In fact this time there were well over 100 individuals throughout the park, and almost too many in the hot spring itself. One of the positives was allot more babies than before as well, presumably born in spring and summer. Some were truly tiny even compared to the tiniest I saw before. The down side though exciting at times of so many monkeys was that being early in the hot spring season for them, there were clearly many challenges for hierarchy positions by puffed up males. When I arrived last time is was the middle of February and there was one undisputed dominant male. The only few fights seemed at that time to be from subordinants attempting to sneak into the onsen to escape the cold. But this time it seemed much more about males trying to claim a higher position in the society. It was not constant, but frequent. The babies were often on high alert, which made for some interesting photo opportunities, but also made me nervous at times for their safety. At the end of the day all the babies were fine sans a could little tumbles while trying to get out of the path of the fights, and most of the time things were in fact peaceful. The highlight however was the snowfall, which continued to increase as the day went by. Last year it was quite the opposite. An added benefit is that the more it snowed, the more the wind kicked up, not only making for some dramatic photos, but also making it cold and necessary for the males to stop fighting and start huddling together for warmth. The babies even grouped together at times which was precious beyond words. At the time of writing this I still have a very large amount of photos to review. I know there are many great ones, but I try my best to only offer the best of the best on this site, and I hope it shows. Several have been added and are currently available for purchase in my snow monkey gallery, so please feel free to explore. More will come in the days and weeks ahead, and I will in fact be going at least once more this year, when winter has fully set in, as I love the depth of winter like few other aspects of nature.
I will never forget my first year in the arctic wonderland of northern Japan, but I am truly looking forward to what’s to come this year. The unknown, the optimism of something amazing on the horizon. I am ready!
Stay tuned!
T. Mellon, the artist behind filmstudiojapan.com !