M Kat Photography: ありがとう、小猿さん

My recent trip to Japan was overall amazing. Going back this time, I got to learn so much about the culture. Also, this time I was able to take home much more of it thanks to the family we stayed with for several days. The food? It was amazing. The people in Japan created their food as if everything they made was a delicacy. It was as if they served their work of art. The efficiency of their transportation system also amazed me. The actualization of winter there brought me joy. In southern California we practically never got the snowy winter that I have always dreamed of.

The highlight of my trip was going to the Jigokudani monkey park in Nagano. My husband and I came out to Nagano specifically to see the Japanese Macaques bathing in hot springs, something I had been looking forward to the entire year prior to the trip. The monkey park was located deep within a forest and took about 30 minutes to walk through to arrive to the destination. It may have been shorter but my husband and I spend quite some time making snowballs out of one-two feet high snow piles. What can I say, we were in a winter wonderland!

It was out in that park where I chanced to get an irreplaceable experience. When I first entered the monkey park I felt as if I were in an entirely new world. Monkeys were everywhere, everywhere in the winter wonderland! Mommy monkeys, baby monkeys, big monkeys, small monkeys. It was fascinating. Despite the "Ooo"s, and "Wow"s spewed out constantly by us humans, the monkeys in fact almost considered us as paparazzi. We literally were all angling our cameras toward them as they simply dug through the snow and clung onto the warm pipes. They knew we existed but didn't care much about it. We got to see them extremely up-close, from less than a foot away. As I was unleashing my photographic fire to capture every single image of the beauty that my eyes witnessed, that was when my moment of bliss occurred. It was while I was taking photos of two baby monkeys. Suddenly one of them dashed toward me and made a tiny jump onto my left knee! Sensations of shock, confusion, wonder then BLISS overcame me. After realizing what was happening I shoved the camera to my face & shot away to remember that moment forever. Thankfully I got one good precious shot.

Several seconds later the monkey plopped off and continued playing with its friends. I was extremely lucky to have been right there at that exact time to have gotten such an experience. Moments later I felt as if life lessons, wisdom and understanding overwhelmed me entirely. Although this moment could have happened to whoever else who would have been just as lucky to have been standing there instead of me, I can express gratitude to God for allowing such a special, sweet occurrence to happen to me to teach me the importance of wildlife. Wildlife had been something I had always been interested in but I had never opportuned to feel of its existence so up close. Although the monkeys don't care much about us and we humans don't see them or think about them very often in our day-to-day lives, I felt after that moment of being embraced by the little monkey that our actions are so important to them. I knew that what we do both directly and indirectly to their land and to so many other forests can either detriment beautiful creatures like these monkeys to perish, or our actions can protect and help their world flourish like how we strive to do for ourselves. I saw the beauty of sharing this land. I understood the God-given power and responsibility to protect them with gladness in my heart. That little hug will always be a precious memory to me. I hope it helps me make wiser decisions, decisions that will let me feel glad instead of ashamed the day we reunite. :)

ありがとう、小猿さん

Thank you, little monkey.

Chadsen caught the last few moments of that baby monkey on my leg! You can see it here!

The precious photo