Before all these problems they are currently having with tourists and the deer, the city of Nara already had warning signs about the deer. These deer are not trained in the sense of like a dog. They don't know right from wrong. They are still considered wild animals even with their familiarity with humans. The warnings you'd hear about are for behaviors like biting, kicking, pushing and giving you a good head-butting. So if these deer are already a little unpredictable with their behavior what makes you think they cooperate with tourists who don't handle them with care.
The deer only want one thing from you, and that's food (specifically the crackers you can buy cheaply from stand vendors). You can get away with a picture standing by them and even giving them a few pets before they roam elsewhere. Now with the popular "selfie" being a thing, many tourists are trying to take a self with the deer. But they need to realize that it's not a normal selfie. You are putting your head directly in line of attack for the deer. One wrong move to make the deer angry and you can possibly lose a body part, like your ear.
In Japan, deer are sacred animals. They are known as messengers of the gods. They are used to the local Japanese in the area because the Japanese understand their importance. The deer are used to things being their way or no way. When tourists are coming to visit these deer in Japan I doubt they are understanding how sacred these animals are. They end up treating these messengers of gods like a common house pet. Don't do anything unnecessary with these deer such as grabbing them, riding them or even chasing them. They live there, you are just a visitor. Visitors need to act like visitors. If tourists would just stand back and appreciate these deer they'd get the best experience out of it.
If you'd like to learn more about Nara and the deer that live there, I wrote a blog called Exploring Nara that you can check out. I said this in a past blog post but I'll say it again. If you are planning on going to Japan, whether if it's to live or visit, PLEASE DO RESEARCH on the culture and way of life. Japan is a well mannered society for the most part and have a set of rules that the Japanese know to follow. If you are not willing to learn these cultural differences and accept them, you will not have a pleasant experience in Japan. You will cause trouble for yourself and the people who live there.
Thank you for reading this blog. I hope it didn't feel like I was nagging. I just really want people to understand that behavior is very important when visiting a different country, as they will be representing their own country when visiting others. But if this blog didn't even apply to you because you know how to behave with these deer, then I hope you at least found it entertaining and maybe learned something new.
For more Japan related content, please follow me on social media: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And I'll be starting a YouTube channel very soon, so follow me to keep up with that news too. Once again, thanks for reading. See you in the next blog!