I know that Kyoto is a beautiful place with many wonderful places to visit. Especially in the Higashiyama area, where many temples and shrines are located.
But some may be wondering about the following signs warning about a wild monkey.
Well, it appears that the wild primates (Nihon-zaru/Japanese Macaque) from the mountains who have been fed by humans have ventured into the area and have become a problem.
As for February 2019, over a dozen people have been attacked by the monkeys (bitten or scratched).
It’s been a problem for officials because they are venturing into tourist areas or crowded sightseeing spots and unlike the deer of Nara (which can be bossy), these monkeys are a bit mischievous, especially the younger primates and if you scare them, their parents will attack. Especially from tourists who try to take photos of the young monkeys, their parents will defend and attack.
According to Asahi, back on April 4th, a 10-year-old girl and her family were at Nanzenji Temple in Kyoto’s Sakyo ward and she was watching a young monkey coming up to her, and a larger monkey attacked her and bit her on the calf.
This is not limited to Higashiyama, even the popular Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, a tourist was bit by a monkey.
Kyoto city and prefectural police have been doing all they can to warn tourists going to temples and shrines to be careful of the monkeys with flyers in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.
For me, each time I’m in the area, I’m always on my guard, if I see the monkeys, I’m not going to go near them, heck, I would rather walk the opposite way.
It is recommended for people to not approach them nor to take pictures. But most importantly, don’t feed them and don’t startle them. Pretend to not see them and walk away. Sometimes the younger monkeys may grab onto your leg as they are not afraid, but as the young ones are mischievous and want to play, it’s their parents that don’t like it and chances are, they will attack.
According to Kyodo News, an officer said that “women and children are prone to being attacked”.
And one can hopefully learn from other people’s misfortunes of playing with monkeys (in other countries):
