‘Snow monkey’ park to cap visitors after overcrowding, bathing with animals

A Japanese snow monkey relaxes in a hot spring in the Jigokudani valley in northern Nagano Prefecture in Japan Friday, Feb 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

TOKYO, Japan -- A Japanese park famous for “snow monkeys” soaking in hot springs will cap daily numbers after a surge in visitors and cases of bad behaviour including bathing with the animals, an official said Friday.

Nestled in a valley with an altitude of 850 metres (nearly 2,800 feet) in the central Nagano region, Jigokudani Yaen-Koen is inhabited by wild Japanese macaques that regularly bathe in its hot volcanic spring waters.

On frigid, snowy winter days, “many monkeys are seen soaking in the hot spring, some for hours on end,” its website says.

Touted as a “monkey paradise,” the park is the “world’s only place” to offer such a sight, its website claims.

Recent years have seen the number of tourists -- the vast majority of them non-Japanese -- rise sharply, sometimes totalling 3,000 to 4,000 a day, a park official told AFP, declining to be named.

“We have been seeing incredibly long queues of visitors waiting outside the ticket booth. To ease that, we will have them buy tickets in advance” online, the official said.

The shift toward an online booking system will start in August, with a possible cap of 2,000 people a day.

As the number of tourists snowballed, so did instances of bad behaviour, such as trying to feed or touch the monkeys.

Some have even “tried to bathe” together with the animals, the official said.

About 42.7 million tourists flocked to Japan in 2025, an all-time high, as the weak yen boosted the appeal of the “bucket list” destination.

Complaints of overcrowding have grown in hotspots like Kyoto, with some disrespectful tourists accused of harassing kimono-clad geisha performers in their frenzy for photos.

In February a cherry blossom festival in Fujiyoshida, boasting a highly Instagrammable view of Mount Fuji, was cancelled after residents complained that their “quiet lives” were under threat.

The city in central Japan complained of chronic traffic jams, cigarette butts tossed, trespassing and even people defecating in private gardens.