In Nagano, a little north of Kyoto there lives a colony of macaques that seem to exist as entertainment for tourists. Is that ok? Are they ok? That's what I wondered between bouts of watching them go about their adorable business and occasionally bickering among themselves. We bought apples and peanuts and fed them while we (instead of them for a change) were inside a fenced enclosure. I looked inside their little eyes surrounded by a fur mask and tried to glean an expression. Kind of blank. When we came close to a little guy at the fence it held its hand out in expectation. You were supposed to leave the snacks on the ground for them to pick up but everyone ignored that instruction, instead  placing them directly in their hands. The small palms were dark and heavily lined like the hand of a tiny old man. It looked soft. They seemed incredibly dextrous. Again amid this invasion of cooing tourists I wondered if they were ok. Was it ok? Us coming here in droves. Were these snacks a bribe? An offering? The price of admission, maybe. When they wanted to they were free to wander off and do their thing. The little babies attached to their moms were impossibly cute. It all seemed to function smoothly enough. The staff seemed to keep a close eye on things and people acted reasonably. What they knew or what they were thinking kept preoccupying me. I felt a kinship with one of them that seemed calmer than the others. He didn't clamor for the snacks but took then gently when they were offered . He sat a little away from the others and stayed out of the periodic squabbles that broke out. It could almost seem as if he was watching us with the same level of concentration as we watched him.