A Japanese park famous for "snow monkeys" soaking in hot springs will cap daily numbers after a surge in visitors and cases of bad behavior including bathing with the animals, an official said Friday.
Nestled in a valley with an altitude of 850 meters in Nagano Prefecture, 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 totaling 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 behavior, 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 hot spots 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 complained of chronic traffic jams, cigarette butts tossed, trespassing and even people defecating in private gardens.
© 2026 AFP
18 Comments
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3RENSHO
There are no tattoos on the snow monkeys...
Newgirlintown
Thank you JT, for not you g with the usual ‘foreign’ tourists line. Although I’m sure some people in the comments will make that assumption, sigh…
sakurasuki
Perhaps there's tattoos in those monkeys body but there are covered with fur.
However as the picture shows, unlike most onsen, they accept customer with tattos.
https://www.tattoofriendlyonsen.com/onsen/jigokudani-onsen-korakukan
dbsaiya
What dd they expect when they tried to make a buck off monkeys? Bad behavior by not only the tourists but also the park officials for trying to cash in. Leave nature be...
stickman1760
What can you expect? Japan has become a massive amusement park for foreign tourists and the Japanese government is happy to oblige.
wallace
The monkeys need their peace.
Spitfire
As the yen continues to tumble and Japan becomes more of a cheap holiday destination it will attract more and more of this type of tourist.
Aly Rustom
As the number of tourists snowballed, so did instances of bad behavior, such as trying to feed or touch the monkeys.
Wait. Feeding an animal is now considered bad behavior? I understand if there are signs saying specifically Please don't feed or touch the monkeys. If someone flagrantly disobeys these signs then it is bad behavior.
But just classifying feeding or kindly touching the animals isn't bad behavior unless one specifically knows that is against the rules.
WoodyLee
Them bad behaving "Non Japanese" tourists again causing all kind of problems for Japan Minding everyone that the Park is doing the advertising without preparing itself for the results and the outcome of such action.
OssanAmerica
You should be thanking Agence France-Presse. Not JT.
There is no need to assume anything. Jigokudani's monkey became famous as the cover of Life Magazine back in 1970, and gained further international attraction during the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998.
Based on the Central Japan Tourism site and Jigokudani site;
Tourists = Annual average approx 35-45% foreign and 55-65 domestic
During the busiest season in winter the split is often close to 50% foreign and 50% domestic, and on some days the foreign share may even exceed half.
divinda
There are lots of signs in multiple languages there which say "Do not give food" and "Do not touch, reach out or startle" and "Stay at least one meter away".
Here's a photo of one of signs:
https://agaonthe.run/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/NOs_at_Snow_Monkey_Park-819x1024.jpg
Sapporo
What a shock. A Japanese tourist site taking all the money as profit while putting nothing back into the infrastructure needed to keep the attraction and its visitors safe. What a surprise.
tora
You'd have to be mad to get into a hot spring with a bunch of monkeys. Apart from the hygiene issues, anything could happen. Talk about stupidity.
Dango bong
what's wrong with bathing with the monkeys?
Justreadingtheprescribed news
The park openly states it attracts monkeys through regular feeding so visitors can observe them, effectively turning wildlife into a commercial for profit attraction.
“At Jigokudani Wild Snow Monkey Park, we attract them to our location through a regular feeding routine to enable regular observation.”
https://en.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/about/
At 2000 people per day (800 yen entrance) they are collecting 1.6M yen / day…
…and what do they do with it?
Well said …
stormcrow
Instead of saying non-Japanese, why don’t you call a spade a spade and say where these rule breakers are from. The vast majority of them are from one country in particular.
It’s not fair for the rule abiding foreigners to be lumped together with these morons from one country in particular.
FizzBit
4 monkeys in a pool, only one deserves respect as a well adjusted animal. Tattoo = social acceptance monkey. Smartphone pics for everything = social butterfly monkey. Body builder = social pressure monkey.
Japantime
Another day, another tourist caused problem in Japan. I was told by a Japanese friend that in Europe people still throw trash on the ground. No wonder people in Japan are surprised when they see the behavior of foreigners in Japan. The airlines should all have a detailed video on the flight about etiquette in Japan.