Bowing Deer, Those Cheeky Bastards.
Actually, the Bowing Deer of Nara, a herd of wild deer that roam the grounds of temples, shrines and downtown streets of Nara, Japan’s first capital, died out long ago. The last one was eaten in 1868. Since then, the deer have been played by an amazing group of child actors, who 
quickly learned that the public would pay more if they bowed first.
Ok, that’s a lie. Obviously.
But the deer are not really dear. They are cheeky little bastards, whose only mission is to eat more, eat now. They pretend to be cute, but if you don’t fork over the special deer crackers, they will nip at your pockets, graze on your shirts, and nibble off your nose. One Spanish tourist was carried away
and roasted while the deer danced intricate patterns, chanting songs of trees and earth.
Well,maybe a slight exaggeration. I hear he was only maimed. But there are times when a little drama is necessary when confronting a sacred cow.
Well sure, in this case, sacred deer. Sacred to be sure because Takemikazuchi (god of thunder, god of the sword, and god in the guise of a giant catfish) rode hundreds of miles on the back of a white deer to protect Nara from its enemies. By the way, the giant catfish lives at the bottom of Japan, causing earthquakes by thrashing his tail.
In the mornings at the beginning of each season of the year (except rutting season), the Deer Call (Shikayose) is performed on a horn to summon the deer for breakfast. Currently, the Deer Call is a passage from Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony” No. 6 performed by a French horn. At the call of the horn, the deer emerge from the forest and cluster around the performer, each waiting to feast on three pounds of acorns, their favorite food.
Food (and probably sex) drives the deer, shaping their performances. Good thing that we are not anything like animals.
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Robby the Busboy
Speaking of food, we stopped at Wafu Restaurant Kasuga near the Kintetsu Nara Station for lunch. The restaurant specializes in kaiseki, a style of traditional Japanese cuisine, consisting of very small, intricate dishes, artistically arranged.
Our waiter, a young man, spoke excellent American English. When I asked how he learned to speak so well, he told us it was from watching “Breaking Bad,” the TV series which was filmed in New Mexico 
and featured many houses and businesses in our immediate neighborhood. Because of this, he was one of the few people outside the United States (and within the United States for that matter) who knew where Albuquerque was. It was a cosmic connection, as we would have said in the 60s.
A kaiseki meal consisted of dishes in a variety of flavors, textures, tastes and colors, each presented in its own small, lacquered box or porcelain bowl. As we started devouring the artful arrangements of food, the meal was interrupted by a short, silent, 
streamlined, gliding metal apparatus, its belly filled with neatly stacked used dishes and dining debris, on its way to be unloaded in the kitchen. Later the robot emerged headed the other way on its mission to collect more dishes.
This will be his life. Every day, back and forth; back and forth. Dirty dishes in; dirty dishes out. Each day the same old grind. No chance for something different; no hope for enlightenment.
Your daily koan: Are there really any dirty dishes in Japan? Or are they just dishes that have been politely used?
The beauty of its temples of Nara should not hide the fact that Japan is not having enough children to maintain its own population. Countries with lower birthrates have more senior citizens and fewer people under the age of 15. This creates a shortage of workers to care for its seniors, much less serve as busboys.
This is not just a Japanese problem. Excluding migration, other nations which no longer produce enough children to replace, much less grow, their populations include the United States, China, England, Russia, Germany, Singapore, South Korea and every other economically advanced nation in the world, with the exception of Israel.
Most of the nations whose populations are growing due to their birth rates are in Africa. This means they have very young populations with far fewer old people. For example, 45% of Uganda’s population is under 15 years of age and only 1.7% people are 65 and older. In comparison, 11.4% of Japan’s population is under 15, and 28% (or 16 times those of Uganda) are 65 and older.
Japan’s declining population in turn has led to a plague of an estimated 9 million abandoned houses in rural Japan. Called akiya, these rural homes are deserted when their elderly owners die and their children migrate to cities.
Given its rapidly aging population, Japan is on the leading edge of an effort use robots to find ways to care for its aging population and replace those people who once filled menial, dangerous and boring jobs like being a busboy.
There is, of course, a simpler way of filling these employment gaps: more immigrants. Unfortunately, xenophobia and racism get in the way of reason and elect racist politicians.
It is easier to build robots.
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“Get Your Red-Hot Shrines and Temples Right Here”
Nara’s biggest tourist attraction is undoubtedly its cute, bowing deer, but I should mention that Nara has many of the best, biggest and baddest shrines, temples and historical districts in Japan. I mean how many places have a 52 foot high, 500 ton, bronze and gold Buddha (Daibutsu-den) housed at Todai-ji, one of the biggest wooden buildings in the world. Their Buddha can beat your Buddha.
Kasuga Taisha, Nara’s principal shrine, is painted in brilliant vermilion and is famous for its thousands of stone lanterns covered with moss at the far end of Nara Park. Kasuga Taisha is actually the oldest shrine of Nara, as it was dedicated Takemikazuchi, the protector of Nara and the god who after all rode in on a white deer.
But the overall importance and the beauty of Nara is greater than its “Seven Great Temples.” The city of Nara as a whole was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was the first capital of Japan (710-784 C.E.) and as such, the center of a dynamic cultural and religious interchange that occurred between China, Korea and Japan during this period. This interchange included the introduction of Buddhism, Chinese kanji characters, clothing (such as silk kimonos), philosophy, and material culture. The story of Nara is the story of the birth of Japan.
Unless otherwise credited, all photography © copyright by Toni Beatty Photography
