This is not a zoo. This is a monkey reserve they come and go freely. In fact

This is more like a Town Square and today I'm gonna be working here for the afternoon

To get a closer look at the lives and society of these monkeys.

And believe it or not they do not eat bananas.

Suimimasen (excuse me)

Let's see where exactly Ōita city and Takasakiyama are located in Japan

We start in Kyushu

Ōita's on the eastern end

Here Ōita City the capital of the prefecture and

Takasakiyama is just to the west right off the bay

At the base is the rail line and highway and behind the park entrance is pure wilderness where the monkeys live

8:00 a.m. It's time for me to start my job at Takasakiyama monkey park

You can walk a few minutes up the steps or commute there by monorail

This definitely is not the Shinkansen but it's a smooth ride to the office

All staff members must wear Takasakiyama Park uniforms

We're ready for the first task of the morning calling the monkeys down from the mountain for breakfast and a headcount

Visitors aren't allowed up the mountain. But since we're on the job you're invited to join us

We are out here to confirm the situation to see how the monkeys are doing and

See how the pack is

Reacting day to day. It's every morning they do this kind of check on the monkeys

This is when the bizarre monkey yelling started

Other staff members were higher up the mountain yelling and reporting on the population's movements

Other than our yelling the forest beyond was quiet

Monkeys feel more secure at night up on the mountain in the trees and come down together every day

We got live reports by radio saying they were coming down slowly

I'm geeing used to this if you make human voices human sounds and the monkeys know you're human

You have to make something a little bit different. That's pretty different. It's pretty different.

I wondered if it could be my presence that kept them away but then...

The troupe started to make their way down little by little like this mother and baby

Nothing... but they're out there

It's pretty cool, we've got four or five of them now coming out of the dream

Six seven eight nine

There's ten now monkeys that have come out of the forest to come and greet us.

This is morning at Takasakiyama

It's pretty cool. huh!

One of the bosses came out to let everyone know it was clear of danger

Not all monkeys commute by ground some take to the trees

The young ones ride into town on their mother's backs, it's a lot more fun that way

This is an important part of the job keeping the monkeys together so they don't go to surrounding farms

They're used to coming down to town for breakfast now, which keeps farmers happy

So what exactly are these monkeys in Japan?

Ōita is just one of many places where the Japanese macaque reside

What makes them special is that

They're the only native monkey in Japan and they get their name as the snow monkeys because no other primate lives more north than them

The Japanese macaque is the king of the cold

They can deal with temperatures as cold as minus 20 degrees Celsius

Their average lifespan is about 6 years in the wild and around 28 to 30 in captivity

monkey is saru (猿) in Japanese

The nihon saru is part of Japanese folklore and is respected

Except maybe by the farmers which is why the park exists

It opened in 1952 after World War 2 when food supplies for humans were low, and it kept the monkeys and humans in harmony

With about 1200 monkeys here. Takasakiyama's monkey troops are some of the biggest in the world

It's a family friendly place for both monkey and human

Feeding time several times a day staff fill a bucket full of barley

And I can't be late the monkeys know exactly when feeding time takes place

experienced staff moves quickly. It will be hard to move the same way my first time

You can hear the monkey speaking they know it wasn't the usual guy on duty

Paying respect to the bosses like this confused them, but I wanted to get on their good side

It really does take time to get to know the monkeys like the staff does

Sometimes feeding them different caused fights to break down

the society has rules

Thankfully I was untouchable, you know as the food guy, but they are sneaky sometimes

But they don't just guess barley it's time for dinner the sweet potato cart race

It's a way for them to show off their speed and agility to the troop

It gets pretty crazy out there like a mosh pit I'll show you from three angle's

After they get one or two sweet potatoes the troop scatters for some good eating

After you get your sweet potato you sneak of fast. Before the big guys swipe one from you

The monkey park is set up with urban services like a city. There's waste management

One of our duties is to protect and serve the public make sure humans and monkeys get along

Society has rules!

The park gives visitors a chance to see the nihonzaru society in the wild roaming free

Here are the rules you humans need to know.

1. Don't feed them.

2. Don't touch or pet the monkeys

3. Don't make fun of them. No one likes that!

4. And don't stare into their eyes

It's said if the monkey runs between your legs it brings good luck and many visitors try

It's been a pretty cool experience working here so far

after a couple of hours you start to see that a lot of the monkeys really do have

Like a personality to them you could tell by looking at their faces

It just, it just takes a little bit of time to get used to seeing their faces, I think

But yeah, you know you work here for a day. These aren't monkeys anymore. These are kind of like

Friends, You get to know them

I asked Sugimoto-san about the park, how she got started? and why this place exists?

This is a really special experience for me, to see this from the other side

The great thing about this monkey reserve is that they

Live free up there in the mountain and come down here whenever they want

As someone who had a chance to see the other side as a staff

You have to have a really great love for the monkeys to do this job

I think and you can see that by talking to

Sugimoto-san and seeing the staff really care for the monkeys that meant a lot to me

I think if you're interested in coming to Ōita

There's a lot of stuff to do if you don't want monkey food

Grab some toriten and some Japanese sake

Ready to hear about Ōita city?

Right at the airport. You're greeted with food on the luggage belt

You've got some of the best seafood in Japan like Seki Saba and sekiaji

Ōita's famous for it and also for its chicken. They're serious about it! toriten is a must

As is their karaage Japanese deep-fried chicken the city center is easy to navigate in a stop at the retro Miyako machi is a must

It really is an adventure budget airlines fly here in a little over an hour from Tokyo

and the monkeys will be waiting to

Ōita city is also one of the venues for the Rugby World Cup

It was great to spend the day working with people that are passionate about their job

otsukaresama deshita

I'll be back again to visit my friends on staff and also those living in the trees all around them and

And as we say in the nehon sashi world. Thank you

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Matane (see you later)