March 10th: Jigokudani
Our inn for the night was Korakukan, a large and rustic minshuku (family-run inn) in the Jigokudani Yaen Koen (Jigokudani Wild Monkey Park), Nagano. The area is a sanctuary for nihon-zaru (Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata), Japan’s native monkey species. Japanese macaques are the only primate other than humans to live in cold climates, thus their other name, “snow monkey”.
Korakukan can only be reached on foot, following a 2 kilometre path through the mountains. As it was early spring, the snow was thawing and the dirt path was muddy and slippery, but it despite the muck it was a pleasant walk. Actually, after a week of being cooped up in the van we were very happy for the chance to stretch our legs.
The path is not lit, so it is necessary to arrive before sundown. We were there in plenty of time and it was so nice to arrive early for once, with time to relax and explore. We saw a couple of monkeys as soon as we got there, and they were mildly curious about the bags of food a few of us were carrying. I was extremely cautious and told everyone to hide the bags and carry them high, since I have seen some nasty monkeys virtually attacking people in Nikko and Minoh, Osaka. But such caution was hardly necessary as these monkeys kept their distance, obviously not used to being fed by humans.
The exterior, lobby, and halls of Korakukan were extremely rustic, but interesting to explore. Especially since the many windows offer views of monkeys huddling on the eaves and roof of the minshuku. Given the somewhat shabby state of the rest of the place, the rooms were much nicer than I expected, and though showing their age a bit were large and clean.
Once we had checked out the place and had relaxed a little, we headed to the dining room for dinner. We were served sansai tempura (tempura of mountain vegetables); salt-grilled ayu (sweetfish); koi-arai (carp sashimi); shimeji mushrooms in a spicy soy sauce dressing; pickled nozawana greens; and chawan-mushi (savory egg custard).
And that’s not all. Look at the bottom right corner of the rectangular fish plate (the squeamish among you will want to skip this next part). Those are two inago, which are eaten in many mountainous areas of Japan, especially Nagano. I’m not unfamiliar with them, since our last apartment’s local grocery store always had them stocked in the take-away section. I’ve never tried them though. I’m not really into eating bugs- inago are grasshoppers cooked in a thick sauce of soy sauce and sugar.
Ushi, who is from Nagano and has fond memories of collecting grasshoppers in the fields near his house so his grandmother could cook them, happily ate his up, and everyone else followed, with varying degrees of reluctance. But not me. This was a major test, and I needed time to gather my courage. I’ve always considered myself an adventurous eater, trying everything that comes my way. Moose steaks, frog legs, horse sashimi, steak tartare, whole grilled sparrows, fermented squid guts- all of these foods and more have travelled down my throat, and although I didn’t enjoy all of them I was happy for the experiences. But I’ve always figured bugs would be where I’d draw the line. And yet everyone else had just eaten theirs, and they all seemed fine. If fact, they claimed the inago were really good. “Just like ebi no tsukudani!” (baby shrimp slow-cooked in soy sauce) I was assured.
Soon everyone had stopped eating, and all eyes were turned to me, with all mouths urging me to eat the inago. Cameras were pointed and the video camera was ready to go. If I had just quietly eaten them earlier (or cleverly hidden them under some other food) it would have gone unnoticed. But now there was no escape, and I had to eat them under the observation of the entire group, the other diners in the room, and the future viewers of the video. I am not a photogenic person and all, and hated when the video camera pointed to me during the trip, but this was the worst- how do you not look awful when eating bugs?
Backed into a corner, I had no choice. I downed them both. And let me tell you, inago taste nothing like ebi no tsukudani. Other than a slight bitterness they have very little flavour, so all I really tasted was the soy sauce and sugar. That doesn’t sound so bad, right? Wrong. What they lack in flavour , they make up in texture. Specifically: crunchy legs. I probably don’t need to describe the experience further, expect to say that I never ever saw the video or even a picture of me eating the inago, so I’m guessing the faces I made were as unpleasant as the inago was, and all images were quickly deleted. At least I’m hoping so.
Luckily the meal didn’t end there- we finished with kamo-nabe (duck meat hotpot). And it was good, in a hearty, rustic, inago-cleansing way that I really appreciated. The kamo-nabe consisted of thinly sliced duck breast, hakusai (Chinese cabbage), enokidake mushrooms, negi (long onions) and shiitake, cooked in broth at the table.
After dinner was bath time. Our rooms were stocked with clean yukata (cotton bathrobes) and belts, haori (a thicker overcoat used in the winter), and small bath towels- standard at ryokan (high-class inns) but seldom provided when staying at minshuku. So these provisions were enough of a treat that I had to take a picture:
Dressed up in our yukata and haori, the girls headed to the hot spring baths, and after figuring out which was which (there is a confusing variety of men’s, women’s, mixed and “family” baths) we had a nice long in the indoor women’s bath.
Upon returning, my post-bath high quickly vanished when the video camera came out and one by one we were asked to give our honne (honest true thoughts) about the trip so far. I had plenty so say but held back (due more to the language barrier than to manners though), so I just waffled and mumbled without saying much. Watching it later was cringingly painful- as awkward as I am on camera when speaking my own language, I am a thousand times worse when trying to speak Japanese. That video camera was one of the things I hated most about the trip, and I am absolutely dreading having to see the finished movie.
More pictures in my Magic Journey Tohoku/Shinetsu Album at Flickr.
Jigokudani Yaen Koen
0269-33-4379
6845 Jigokudani, Yamanouchi-machi, Shimotakai-gun, Nagano-ken
Korakuen Jigokudani
0269-33-4376
Jigokudani, Yamaouchi-machi, Shimotakai-gun, Nagano-ken
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