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Okay, we’ll be honest – we went to Nara for the deers.
As we disembarked from Kyoto to Osaka, we decided to make a half day trip to Nara. Nara has the grace of a provincial town, an evidently beautiful area laced with a sweet tranquility. It is another excellent place to get a break from the big cities of Japan.
From Kyoto, we boarded the rapid train from the JR Kyoto Station to JR Nara Station which took a little less than an hour. And from the station, we took a 10-minute bus ride to Nara Park.
Nara park is a large park located in the Nara Prefecture. The area is brimmed with entrancing historical sites that include temples and shrines alike. There are also a plethora of beautiful spots with natural sceneries to explore – a virgin forest, Japanese gardens, as well as various different ponds. Follow the pleasant pathways that line the park and it will lead you to an assortment of traditional tea houses as well as quaint snack and/or souvenir kiosks.
Nara is relatively small and can be easily explored on foot. With a great amalgam of temples, shrines, parks, and riveting views, it makes for a laid-back and easy wandering experience, with no trains to catch nor busy streets to navigate through. Something rare in otherwise face-paced Japan, I’d say.
Ultimately, you can meander in the realm of the deer. Just imagine – hundreds and hundreds of deers wandering freely in a nature-rich park. An otherworldly sight that can only be witnessed here in Nara. The deers alternate between looking fresh out of a fairytale scene and trying to unabashedly bombard you for food. The deers have somewhat become a symbol of the city, and have even been dubbed as a natural treasure.
Scattered around the park are stalls selling deer crackers. Note that as majestic and harmless as they seem, the deers can be rather aggressive in trying to get the crackers out of your hands. So be sure not to tease them with food as they will attack. Our little dude learnt this the hard way when he got head-butted by an eager one. No child was harmed in the process.
Once we’d run out of deer crackers, we decided to follow the sound of music and people singing we’d been hearing all afternoon. To our delight, we had walked into a concert of some sort, with people of all ages dancing, singing, and simply being carefree in the outdoors. Without a second thought, we decided to be one with the locals, and spent the remaining of our time in Nara dancing and singing to songs we don’t even understand and/or know the words to. It ended up being one of the most memorable parts of our Japan trip.