(7 Feb 2025)
JAPAN SNOW MONKEYS
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTIONS:
LENGTH: 4:31
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nagano, Japan – 4 February 2025
1. Wide of monkeys bathing in hot spring
2. Various of monkeys bathing
3. Mid of foreign tourists taking pictures of monkeys
4. Various of monkeys bathing
5. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Toshio Hagiwara, head of Jigokudani Monkey Park:
"Last year we had around 257,000 visitors, which is the highest historically. And around 60 percent of them are foreign tourists."
6. Mid of tourists taking pictures of monkeys
7. Close of monkey bathing
8. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Toshio Hagiwara, head of Jigokudani Monkey Park:
"Some visitors do not follow rules – touching monkeys, throwing stones at them and trying to feed them. Inside (the park) we are strictly monitoring and giving them warnings, but some still do it sneakily as we cannot monitor the whole area, which has been quite a pain in the neck for us."
9. Close of sign reading (English) "Wildlife Protection Zone"
10. Wide of village next to snow monkey park
11. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Toshio Hagiwara, head of Jigokudani Monkey Park:
"As a company, our business is going well to the level that we can relax financially. There was a time that we were at the risk of closing the park. So compared to that, we are financially relaxed now thanks to them (tourists)."
12. Mid of monkeys bathing
13. Wide of stone monkey statue
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Mari Berbertiere, 65, French tourist:
"Too many people. But I knew it was like that, so it is not a surprise. So we can adapt and take a long tele-lens so we don’t see so many people. And I’m living in the hotel there, so tomorrow at 9 o’clock I shall be the first and nobody else."
15. Mid of two monkeys grooming
16. Wide of tourists walking toward the snow monkey park
17. Wide of the entrance of snow monkey park
18. Close of sign (reading) (Japanese) "The entrance of Snow Monkey Park"
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Max Andersson, 30, Swedish tourist:
"I thought it was really a cool place – also the walk all the way and then it was you know a big surprise to see the monkeys."
20. Wide of foreign tourists walking
21. Mid of gift shop at snow monkey park ++MUTE++
22. Close of monkey souvenir ++MUTE++
23. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Toshio Hagiwara, head of Jigokudani Monkey Park:
"Monkeys bathe here when it’s painfully cold. They don’t need to bathe when it’s not so cold so only do during a short time in winter."
24. Various of monkeys bathing
STORYLINE:
LEADIN:
Each winter hundreds of thousands of tourists go to see the spectacle of Japan’s snow monkeys bathing in the hot springs of Jigokudani Park in Nagano.
Temperatures in the Japanese Alps plunge to around minus 20 and the macaques rely on the natural springs survive the cold.
With increasing visitor numbers to Japan, the monkeys have become the region’s biggest attraction which is raising concern for their welfare.
STORYLINE:
It’s freezing, but the snow monkeys here in Jigokudani Park know how to stay warm.
As temperatures fall, what better than to hop into one of Japan’s famed natural hot springs to soak their shivers away.
Watching these macaques interact is one of the major attractions in the central Japanese Prefecture of Nagano.
Staff here say the number of visitors to Jigokudani Park last year reached 257,000, the highest since it opened in 1964.
The majority – 60% – are from overseas.
The delight and fascination with the monkeys is obvious. Crowds of visitors stand entranced, apparently oblivious of the cold.
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