Nara, Japan

When planning our day-by-day itinerary for our two weeks in Japan, we knew we wanted to include Nara solely based on a travel vlog that we saw a few years ago showcasing the deer that live there in the local park. Nara is a small town that is a very easy day trip to make from either Kyoto or Osaka via train or car. This small town was actually the capital of Japan in the 8th century, previously named Heijo-kyo, and is also known for its temples and artwork dating back to this time period. We had a full schedule lined up for our days in Kyoto, so making the day trip to Nara from Osaka is what made the most sense for us.

We started off the day by hopping on the local train from a station near our hotel in Osaka to head to Nara. This journey took under an hour and was absolutely stress-free. Japanese trains are some of the most peaceful trains in the world - between the heated seats and swaying of the train on the track we were almost lulled to sleep. A short while later, we made it to Nara and were immediately greeted by the deer-themed signage and many types of souvenirs on display at the train station. It was tempting to buy something cute to bring home, but not worth carrying it around in a backpack for the next four months, so we walked past everything and went straight to the park to see the deer.

Within a short ten-minute walk from the train station, we were immediately greeted by the friendly Nara deer. They were EVERYWHERE…walking on the sidewalks, hanging out under the signs, laying in the grassy area in the middle of the park, etc. We took so many photos within the first few minutes of being in Nara that we thought we would never make it through the whole town in one day. While walking through the park we noticed some local Nara residents selling what looked like homemade rice crackers that could be fed to the deer. We opted not to buy these treats for the deer after seeing how persistent the deer were after realizing that you had these tasty treats and were giving them away. Many people, including small children were being nudged or even knocked over by multiple deer at once after their rice cracker stash was depleted. We tried our best to just walk away and avoid these chaotic areas and instead only approached the calm deer.

The deer were easier to approach without food in hand and were actually so calm that you could take multiple photos with them, and even pet them if you wanted to. This was probably our favorite part of the day! We ended up taking multiple photos and videos of the deer. Some highlights of things that these deer have learned to do throughout their years living in this park amongst humans are:
1. Stopping and waiting to cross the roads side by side with humans on the actual crosswalk
2. Bow to humans that offer them food as a way to thank them

We found these two things to be incredibly fascinating. Overall, the deer seem to be thriving living here in the park with many treats and pets from visitors each day.

While a day trip was enough for us to see most of this town and leave with over a hundred pictures of the deer, if you had more than two weeks to spend in Japan, we would recommend staying overnight in the charming town of Nara. You can absolutely see the major highlights of this town in a day trip from Kyoto or Osaka, but to get the entire experience and appreciate this ancient city that was somehow spared during WWII destruction, at least one night and two days would be worth planning for. This would also make for a nice break from the bigger cities that most tourists stay in when visiting Japan. Other activities that we did when we were here included eating at a local cafe as well as visiting one of the many temples from the 8th century.

-Ivy&Drew