Jigokudani Monkey Park

The hot spring feature at Jigokudani, in the Kanbayashi Onsen area of Yamanouchi, Nagano Prefecture, discharges natural spring water at around 100°C from the bed of the Yokoyu River. A bathing facility for the resident wild Japanese macaques was built here and the Jigokudani Monkey Park formally opened in 1964; the surrounding buildings originated as a medicinal bathhouse opened in 1864. The macaques' hot-spring bathing became internationally known after appearing on the cover of Life magazine in 1970.