TL;DR – I join some friends in Nara and bow to some deer.

Disclosure – I paid for my flights, accommodation, entry, and everything you see purchased in this article. [Other than the delicious lunch]

Exploring Japan –

I had always planned to go back to Japan one day, and had started making plans to go back in 2020. Then, well, 2020 happened. But late last year, I finally had the chance to put those plans back in motion as I flew out of Melbourne for Osaka, and thus my time in Japan began.  

A new day, and a new train ride; this time I was heading south from Osaka to the old capital of Nara to meet up with some friends, and yes, I did get lost in Shin-Osaka again.

The first stop was a wonderful little restaurant well off the tourist route where we had fresh Okonomiyaki prepared in front of us. I believe this is the Kansai-style Okonomiyaki, but no matter its classification, it was delicious.  

But of course, there is one main reason why people go to Nara, and that is the deer, and they are everywhere. But I did have an amusing moment before we got there. As we were working out the bus tickets with the car park attendants, one of them started chatting with me and soon stumbled into every possible way of saying I was large in English. I was starting to get a touch upset until we got to the end of the conversation when he put in the hard sell for me to join their wresting team. I have never quite experienced a tonal shift like that in real life before.  

While the Sika Deer are mostly chill, they are still wild animals, and as such you need to be cautious about taking cues from their behaviour. If they don’t want you to come near, take the hint. Oh, and if you are going to feed them from the official food packets, be prepared, because they do not mess around.  

Of course, you will find most of the deer on the approach to Tōdai-ji, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the most impressive wooden buildings I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. No photo quite does it justice, because they all make it look small, when it is the temple that makes anyone approaching it feel like an ant.

What I did not appreciate the first time I visited the temple all those years ago was just how much craftsmanship and technology went into all the wooden support structures that keep the building up. It must be all my friends and their love of woodworking rubbing off on me.

After the temple, we went for a walk through Nara Park, a stunningly beautiful place where you can find just about every shade of green you can imagine. Not pictured here was the one old/wise deer who saw me get one of those biscuits that you feed the deer and immediately realised I was an easy mark … he was correct in that assumption.

Soon I had to head back to Osaka to pack for the first big travel day of my trip. It was a joy to catch up with old friends and experience Nara with them. It was a gorgeous day; the weather held up; I was taken back in time; the food was delicious; the company was a joy; and I bowed to a deer and it bowed back. Few days compare.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images and content have been created by the author unless stated otherwise