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Theresa O’Connor / Treasa Ní Chonchúir

A day trip to 奈良 (Nara)

Part of our

The thing EJ was most excited about seeing in Japan were the 日本鹿nihonjika (Sika deer) in 奈良Nara.

She hadn’t wanted to feed them, but after wandering in 奈良公園Nara Park and seeing many of them, she changed her mind. We spent ¥200 on a packet of 鹿煎餅shikasenbei and we each fed a couple deer.

The camera looks over the shoulder of a child. Directly in front of the child, facing the camera, is a shika deer.

She bought a cute little plush shika deer as a souvenir.

Shot from above, a child sits in a seat on a train. Her seat tray is deployed, and on it, she is playing with a small plush toy of a shika deer.

While I enjoy the deer as much as anyone, personally, I was more excited to return to 東大寺Tōdai-ji, which Eryn and I saw two years ago. Putting aside the 大仏Daibutsu itself, the 大仏殿Daibutsuden it’s housed in is incredible—for many centuries, it was the largest wooden structure in the world.