Nara is the city of deer. One of the attractions is to be close to wild deer in the downtown area such as Nara Park. Deer in Nara have been protected as a messenger of God since the 8th century, and were designated as a Natural Treasure of the State in 1957. There are about 1,200 deer in the city. The number of deer has obviously been increasing. We came across a deer family even in a residential area this time. Tourists are allowed to feed deer, but be aware that wild deer can attack you especially in rut. For your information, feeding deer other than Shika-senbei is prohibited in Nara Park. Shika-senbei is a cracker sold at shops for tourists to feed deer in the park.
To meet with the wild deer, the nearest railway station is Nara on the Kintetsu line. We can see many kinds of trains from major cities in the Kansai District at this station. They are not only Kintetsu's trains but also other operators' ones. For example, we came across Hanshin Railway's train. It was the EMU 1000 series directly operated from Kobe City via the Hanshin-Namba line. It's an 8 or 2-car train commissioned in 2009. We also came across Kyoto Municipal Subway's train. It was the EMU 10 series directly operated from Kyoto City via the subway Karasuma line. It's a 6-car train commissioned in 1981.
The wild deer and various kinds of trains... I fully enjoyed Nara City.
