Deer, Shrine, and Wagyu Beef: Kyoto

Deer, Shrine, and Wagyu Beef: Kyoto - Day 17

July 01, 2025

Saturday June 28, 2025

One of the things that Dylan wanted to do while in Kyoto is visit Nara Park. So after we had had breakfast, that was our first destination. We rode public transit to get out there. And while it took a couple transfers, the park was quite near the station we ended at.

The concierge at our hotel had warned us that vendors sometimes run out of crackers foe the deer. He urged us to purchase our crackers to feed the deer immediately upon arriving at the park. This is what we did, Dylan, in fact, got a plastic bag full of the sack of crackers.

The deer, as we had been told to expect, milled around the cracker stands and tried to get fed. Once they knew you had crackers, they were fairly pushy about trying to access them. One deer took the map out of Desmond’s hand and began to eat that! I was concerned that it was eating something that was not food, and grabbed the map back, chiding the animal and pulling it from his mouth. The paper ripped, and he got a bit of it anyway.

We moved a bit further off of the sidewalk and into the park. About five or more deer were chasing Dylan around, while he laughed. They were excited to get the large amount of crackers in his sack.

Then it was my turn to feed them. When initially presented with the idea of feeding the deer, it had not occurred to me that some of them would have antlers. One of the male deer, larger than me, was bowing, but whenever I tried to give him a cracker, one of the smaller female deer would sneak in and get it. He finally had had enough of that and reared up on his hind legs, using his front hooves to encourage the ladies to get out of the way. I moved away also, and would not feed him until he was once again politely bowing. Meanwhile, the females got impatient and one of them bit me on the side. It wasn’t hard, and didn’t leave a mark, but being bit by a deer had not been on my list of things to do in Japan, and yet here we are. Turning toward that animal, another bumped into me in the back with his antlers. Again, not enough to seriously hurt me, but it wasn’t polite behavior, either.

We saw a local feeding the deer and it went much smoother. He would hold a section of cracker up above the deers heads, they would bow their heads multiple times, and then he would feed each of them a small bit of the cracker.

After the crackers were all fed to the deer, we lingered and took some photos. It was certainly a unique experience, and made me think of why there are so many restrictions against feeding the wild animals in National Parks. Seeing the animals behavior, I imagined that with the bear or other animals at Yellowstone, and it is clear why it is not allowed.

On our way from the train station to the park, Bryan had seen a vender selling lemonade. We went back and all of us got big lemonades (of various flavors) with ice in them. I was a bit put off by the carbonation, but I enjoyed the strawberry bits in mine.

Dad had spotted a narrow side street with lots of shops along it, and wanted to go explore since it looked like what he thinks of when he thinks of Japan. (He’s not wrong, with all the signs in Japanese and the shops with their goods spilling out in front of them, it did look very Japanese.) He found himself a good new ball cap that says Japan on it, and had a mountain and a wave. It’s a good looking hat.

After that we walked about ten minutes to a different train station and took a quick trip to the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine. With a short walk up the hill, we were able to pass through many orange arches. While I didn’t know the religious significance of the arches, they were very visually striking. Bryan thought of the Asian tourists we often see in cathedrals in Europe, and felt like we had now switched places, observing their places of worship.

After that those that could enjoyed ice cream bars, and I had the last z-bar, which was melted beyond recognition. When we made it back to the hotel, we took a rest break.

Around 4 o’clock, we headed back out for an all you can eat wagyu beef place that the hotel concierge had recommended. We were led up a curved staircase and were seated near the kitchen where they slice the meat and bring it to the table. Ordering is done on a tablet at the table, selecting cuts of meat. Then enough for one piece of each of that type of meat comes out on a plate, and you grill it on a hibachi grill at the center of the table. It was delicious! You have 90 minutes to order whatever you want off of the menu. We got drinks, and Desmond offered to get us new drinks whenever we ran out. He was loving going downstairs, filling the glasses and coming back with them.

We left full and satisfied. It had been a lot of fun! Mom, Dad, and I got into a taxi and headed back to the hotel. Dylan, Desmond and Bryan did a little shopping before heading back. There was a Nintendo store that had a cool Mario thing up on the roof (see below).