Run for your life!

On Saturday, A and I visited Nara, a city in the mountains east of Osaka. It's religiously very important, being home to several notable shrines and temples, but is also home to a large population of sika deer. These aren't the sort of viewed at a distance deer you might be used to; although their 'sacred' status was revoked after WWII, they are protected as national treasures and are absurdly tame. They're content to go about their business, pose for photos, and generally be pleasant, until they spot someone buy a bag of 'deer cookies'.

Small stalls in the park sell stacks of round, baked wafers specifically for feeding the deer. If you've seen someone attempting to feed pidgins in a city and getting completely swarmed, you know where this is going... just imagine getting swarmed by persistent deer! If you run away, they'll only chase you, and do you really think you can run faster than the fleet-footed deer?

I didn't see any smaller children have problems - they were always quick to hand over the cookies when approached by the deer. For some reason, it was usually the older people who rather than handing over the food, thought they'd somehow manage to take a step back and regain control of the situation. As if the deer would allow that to happen! It's full court press from the moment they spot you with food until they're fully convinced you no longer have any.

While dodging the random deer droppings throughout the city can be a little trying, the deer add to the uniqueness of Nara and contributed significantly to my enjoyment of the place.