Japan Day 7, Part 1: Nara Deer

I awoke early so I could see as much as possible in my one day in Nara. I headed into Nara Park for breakfast, and ended up spending most of my time there looking at the deer. I took more trouble than I'd care to admit trying to emulate a picture my friend Jeff took of himself in Nara with a deer's face right next to his own. The deer are considered sacred messengers of the gods, and are protected as National Treasures, just like the ancient buildings around them.

Most of Nara's sights are in the park, but even the part closest to the city center was filled with historical buildings such as this impressive pagoda. 

As with Yellowstone, and other places full of both animal life and tourists, people seem to think that the animals' presence around humans mean that they are domesticated. This sign reminded me of Yellowstone's warnings of potential buffalo goring. 

The irony is that one almost has to step over deer in order to read about how the deer are potentially dangerous.

Most of the deer were totally relaxed, though a few were curious about me.

Some of the bucks had impressive racks of antlers, and others were just budding.

I realized the deer would steal my food if I ate around them, so I eventually headed down to a pond to view fish and turtles as I ate breakfast.