Monkeying Around

I couldn’t be motivated to climb a mountain in Miyajima that had a flame which had been burning nonstop for over a thousand years in a shrine, but I was easily motivated to climb a mountain in Kyoto to see monkeys. I love monkeys.

Before I came to Japan I had no idea that up in the mountains all across the country there are wild macaque monkeys. While staying in Kyoto I decided to go to the town of Arashiyama and climb 30 minutes up to Iwatayama Monkey Park to see some of Japan’s macaques in action. The park is inhabited by a troop of over 170 monkeys. They are all wild and at times dangerous, but you can feed them food purchased at the park.

It was awesome and so much fun feeding these little guys. I felt right at home, they have little monkey feet and I was wearing my monkey feet; Vibram five-finger shoes.