For animals lovers, a day trip to Nara is an absolute must. At Nara Park, you can spend time feeding, bowing with, and taking photos of the hundreds of freely roaming deer.
The easiest way to get to Nara is by train. You will either arrive at the JR Nara Station or the Kintetsu Station. For the JR Nara Station, expect a 15 to 20-minute walk. For the Kintetsu Station, turn right outside of the station and walk up the sidewalk for a short 5-minutes.
Find out how to properly get to Nara from Osaka (and how not to take the wrong train).
The deer are freely roaming animals. They mostly stay in the park itself, while few venture out onto the sidewalk and street if they are following people with deer crackers.
They are tame creatures that may become aggressive (as in jump on you like a dog or chase you a little faster) if they sense that you will feed them and smell deer crackers on you.
They only consume the deer crackers that are sold by vendors throughout the park.
And because you are in Japan, these deer know how to bow! They bow to ask for crackers and if you also bow with them.
Respect the deer. It might seem obvious, but you will be surprised and heartbroken when you witness tourists horrifically mistreating the deer
We actually witnessed a boy throwing his crackers at the deer while menacingly laugh, and his family did not stop nor correct him.
The most common offense was leaving plastic bags and litter in the park and next to the deer who end up eating and consuming the trash. No!
You wouldn’t eat plastic or trash, so why would you leave it on the ground for the deer to eat. Pick up your trash!
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