Awaji Monkey Center

Hi everyone! I’m going to write about Awaji Monkey Center (MC) and compare it with Arashiyama Monkey Park (MP) hoping that it’ll help you plan your trip. First off, I support animal shelters and rescue groups and I don’t go to zoos. Awaji MC is not a zoo, it’s a place where monkeys live in the wild and us humans are just allowed to come and see them. Awaji MC does not interfere in any way: they do not treat injuries or administer medications, they do not assist monkeys. They track them using GPS collars for research purposes and give them healthy snack like yams (satsumaimo), bananas, pressed barley (oshi mugi) but other than that there’s no intervention. The good news that the monkeys are self sufficient as they support each other and raise babies together, and they all look very healthy including those that are quite old now. In that regard Awaji MC follows the same approach as Arashiyama Monkey park. Their role is supporting natural life cycle and observing. Now let me compare Awaji MC and Arashiyama Monkey Park. The most important difference is the size of the facility. Awaji MC is a 5 min walk. From the parking lot next to the sea you walk a short loop for 5 min and that’s all you get. There’s a small monkey onsen and a small snack area, and then a steep hill where monkeys jump around and climb trees. As around 300 monkeys live there, you’ll see a lot of monkeys and you’ll be able to see all sorts of communication patterns. It’s December now and there are a lot of babies that were born in summer, very cute and fun to watch. They’re all extremely docile. Here and there fights occur, but nothing too violent, and there are no monkeys that are injured or very sick. As the area is so small, you’ll be surrounded by monkeys. The monkeys are really friendly to each other and people. There are several very old monkeys that are still quite genki, one monkey with a bad eye, and this year there’s a baby monkey that was born with a birth defect, no hands. Of course this baby won my heart. Her name is Nina. She has arms but no hands. She’s learned to walk like a human using her legs and she can climb and play. It’s hard for her because hands are very important for monkey well-being but her future looks promising because the colony is generally very supportive. The staff said that Nina is eating well and she can play with other babies and moms so she should be ok. Gambatte, Nina! Arashiyama MP is much bigger. From the parking lot you’ll have to climb hills and it’ll take about 40 min. The MP is located on the mountain top, but you’ll start seeing monkeys 10 min before you reach it. There are a lot of monkeys living there too, they’re just scattered around more. There’s a feeding area so monkeys hang around there. You’ll see families and babies. No monkey onsen. You can buy healthy snacks and feed the monkeys, you’ll go inside a house with wire protected windows to do that. The view is fantastic. There are benches and those view binoculars for ¥100. The view area ends as a steep hill but there are cool trees where monkeys sleep, groom and play. I guess, I’d go Awaji MC if: you are based in Kobe or around (Akashi Kaikyo bridge costs! It’s almost ¥2,000 one way) and you have small kids: no hiking, just come and go. I’d go to Arashiyama MP if you’re based in Kobe (same travel time), Osaka or Kyoto, and you want to hike a little bit and see the view. You can also go to other famous Kyoto places after that. SUMMARY Animal sanctuaries where we humans can just observe animals without caging them is the best way to see animals, and both Awaji MC and Arashiyama MP provide an excellent opportunity to do that. Attached are the photos from Awaji MC. Enjoy your trip!

The monkeys are so cute! It seems to be a research project for the Japanese monkey. They are free to roam, and could leave quite happily if they wanted, but the people provide food for them so why would they go anywhere else?! We were lucky enough to be in amongst the feeding frenzy, and minimal other tourists around. (winter months) Was great to watch them in a (sort of) natural environment.