Photo by jasperdoest / On her family farm in the Nagano Prefecture, 77-year-old Tazue Uchiyama defends against daily monkey foraging raids with a semiautomatic airgun. Several monkey troops inhabit the surrounding mountains, but over the last 15 years there has been a steady increase in the number of monkeys that come down to raid crops. “They come here multiple times per week. Several monkeys have even managed to come inside my house and left a lot of damage. Tourists feed them near the hotel, nearby. I don’t like that. They are no longer afraid of humans,” says Uchiyama-san. The macaques have been officially protected from hunting in Japan since 1947. Meanwhile the monkeys have learned that air rifles can't do them any harm, leaving many farmers in Japan’s rural communities in despair. Follow jasperdoest to learn more about the human-wildlife relationship. #humanwildlifeconflict #Japan #japanesemacaques #日本 Check out Nat Geo's link in bio for more on this story.