Deer Park

Nara

By Thomas Feng

nara - Getting there

“If we’re going to Nara, it has to be today.”

Typhoon Nangka had spent the past three-four days pelting us with rain and storms in Osaka. We were travelling to Tokyo today as well and so if we were to detour to Nara at any point during the trip, it was now.

Nara is 45km south of Kyoto in Kansai which takes 45 minute on the Miyakoji Rapid Service; we took the rapid Yamatoji Rapid Service from Osaka which took around an hour. As per always, Japanese trains are quiet, comfortable and fast.

Nara was the first capital city of Japan in 710 and is full of World Heritage Sites and delicious food but most importantly, THERE ARE 1200 WILD ROAMING SIKA DEER IN NARA PARK.

(I apologise in advance because I’m weirdly inarticulate for the rest of this post with Buzzfeed-esque excitement)

“THERE ARE 1200 WILD ROAMING SIKA DEER IN NARA PARK.”

deers DEERS DEERS

Did I mention that there are 1200 wild, roaming, friendly Sika Deer in Nara Park who are used to human contact?! 1200. Deer. What. How. Can. Life. Get. Better. Nope.

This one came up to me

This is the first deer which came up and approached me (BAE)! The little calves usually get overshadowed by older deer who take all the crackers. This was my favourite deer though; just look into bae’s eyes and its hooves and its gentle nudges for food.

LOOK. AT. BAE.

then more came to love me

They just wanted me to feed them deer crackers (what a f***ing fantastic life), and I obliged. If you don’t want to be chased around the park by deer who want more food (lol Kingsley), I’ll let you in on a secret:

Don’t drop all your deer crackers at once (11/10 life advice) because then they’ll eat them all and want more. Take one out, hide the others, and break each cracker into multiple parts. I’m helping their digestive systems work efficiently by maximising my time spent feeding my crackers with them; it’s a win-win for me and deer.

FEEDING AND PETTING THEM WAS SO PRECIOUS.

and it's just magical

This deer bowed for me! Kingsley bowed for the deer. Arigatou deer for being you.

best two hours of my life

I felt many feels. Thanks Nara.

P.S. I don’t think I will ever get over the noise a deer makes.

P.P.S There’s plenty of other activities to do and places to see in Nara too, we just had to leave soon after because we were worried about being stuck in Osaka another night due to Nangka.