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The Nara Deer Preservation Foundation recently released the results of its annual survey of the deer population of Nara Park, where the animals are allowed to roam free in deference to their connection with local Shinto cultural customs. The foundation reports that the park’s number of deer is up this year, since the larger number of human tourists during the ongoing Japan travel boom means more people purchasing and handing out the cracker-like deer snacks that the animals love.
However, not all humans are playing nice with the deer. On Sunday, video began making its way around the internet showing a young man, who appears to be in his teens or 20s, physically assaulting the deer with kicks and blows to the head.
In the video, a group of deer can be seen crowding a sidewalk at the edge of the park, which is by no means an unusual occurrence in Nara. Rather than taking a few steps to thread his way through the herd, though, a man in a white T-shirt decides to go with the shockingly cruel footwork option of forcibly kicking one of the deer, causing a loud slapping thump as his show rams into the backside of the unsuspecting creature, which wasn’t even looking in the man’s direction.
The deer, and a few of its brethren, dash forward a short distance to get out of range of the man’s feet. He then continues walking and, when the same deer is once again stopped in his path, he kicks it again, and when another deer looks towards him, the man slaps the animal in the face.
It takes a special kind of coward to sucker-kick a deer, and it’s an especially heinous thing to do in Nara Park, where centuries of mingling harmoniously with humans on a daily basis had made these deer communities much less wary of being attacked. Aside from being a heartless breach of trust, it’s also a crime to assault Nara Park’s deer. Even beyond cruelty to animal ordinances, Nara Park’s deer are officially designated as natural monuments by the Japanese government because of their cultural significance, and injuring them can be punished by up to five years in prison (which is actually a step back from the samurai era, when harming the deer was punishable with death).
Some versions of the video claim that the man kicking and slapping the deer is Chinese, apparently based on the incident taking place with many non-Japanese tourists standing around. However, the above version of the video points out that the man has what appear to be house keys clipped to his waistband and is wearing a T-shirt from a relatively minor Tokyo-based apparel company, and some commenters have said thy can hear the man saying “Jama” and “Doke,” Japanese for “You’re in my way,” and “Move it” as he strikes the deer, suggesting that he may be a Japanese local, but his identity remains unconfirmed at this time.
Source: Shukan Josei Prime via Yahoo! Japan News via Jin
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- Increased tourist numbers in Nara Park are affecting the size of its deer population
-- Nara deer “addicted” to rice crackers, lose weight with no tourists to feed them
-- Deer in Nara Park outnumber visitors, display baffling summer gathering behaviour
- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2024/07/24/video-of-man-kicking-slapping-deer-in-nara-park-outrages-japan%E3%80%90video%E3%80%91/
45 Comments
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Stewart Gale
I trust the police are going to get involved.
finally rich
Everyone is totally paralyzed, but I kind of understand.
Instead of a big cheering, you'd be slapped with assault for dropping the brave midget
dbsaiya
Was waiting for someone to kick and slap some sense into this jerk. Woulda been funny if one of the bucks with big antlers decided to show him who's boss.
BigP
Find him and shame him!
finally rich
This is not in front of the station, a business area or a place someone without any business with deers and sightseeing would need to pass through. Imagine taking your time to go to this especific area, probably even all the way from outside of Nara just to show how brave you are. Fatherless activities.
Fighto!
Hopefully netizens identify him and where he lives.
shogun36
Sawed off loser.
Where’s an angry papa buck when you need them?
purple_depressed_bacon
Disgusting behaviour. I hope the police find him and throw this PoS in jail for animal abuse. Also, why did none of the passerbys say anything or stop him?
BertieWooster
Of course, I don't condone this. Cruelty to animals is unforgivable. But I must confess to feeling annoyance at these deer sometimes. They can be annoying.
Stewart Gale
Looking at the downvotes on many of these comments, it would appear several Japan Today posters condone and possibly support cruelty to animals.
Interesting.
Yohan
The video is quite clear and it should not be difficult to identify this person, he should face a high fine.
sakurasuki
First suspect always foreigner, at the end most likely that person is Japanese.
WoodyLee
Just one look at his walking style and his face tells it all, the Perfect THUG actually looking for a fight, he can't be a tourist this must be a local thug who probably done it before and not just with Deer's but people as well.
WoodyLee
I hope that JT keeps posted as to who this thug was?
Patricia Yarrow
Nara deer are a nuisance. I would agree to not having them.
WiseOneIn Kansai
What?? One of the most popular attractions of going to Nara Park is to see and feed the deer!!
The deer agree that you are a nuisance and shouldn't be there!!
Agent_Neo
There were also posts from Chinese people kicking and hitting deer, and Koreans pretend to be Japanese when they commit crimes.
Even when they catch people overseas thinking they are Japanese, they often turn out to be Chinese or Korean.
In the first place, if Koreans are in trouble overseas, they will ask for help from the Japanese embassy instead of their own country's embassy.
In any case, no matter what nationality they are, they should not harass the deer in Nara.
theFu
Nobody should be assaulting any wild animal just for fun or because they are angry about their own life.
Animals should be afraid of humans. It is better for their survival. These deer have learned to depend on humans. People feeding and closely interacting with them are the problem. If you want a deer petting zoo, create one and have "safe deer" in it.
This situation is wrong in so many ways.
Aaron J
“shikanoko nokonoko koshitantan”. Roughly translated “deer are not always as innocent as they appear.”
餓死鬼
Possibly so. However, for better or worse, this is the relationship that has been established with these particular deer. Fortunately, probably most people can get by without feeling the need to lash out at a deer, unlike the hard man in the video.
nandakandamanda
Fitness gym key? Despite the terrible fashion sense, he looks like a real tough guy.
Garthgoyle
By the way he walks, some pointless chimpira.
TokyoLiving
Pathetic human garbage, it boils my blood..
Hope he gets a well deserved punishment..
Desert Tortoise
Oh deer ! Self important a-hole kicking and slapping these gentle creatures. Wonder what appointment he had that was so important he couldn't walk around them?
falseflagsteve
Ruddy swine, a damn coward and a thug who deserves to be punished to the full extent of the law to discourage any others who may think this is ok.
So ruddy cross right now, nowt worse than someone hurting animals of vulnerable humans.
Newgirlintown
Many quick to label him Chinese I see. The media has been full of stories about ‘foreigners’ doing this, that and the other this year and it reminds of the kind of racist rhetoric coming from Trump. The vast majority of tourists coming to Japan are absolutely fine.
GuruMick
Should be easy to identify...and the "swagger " in his walk, like he's Al Capone or something.
Needed a "good man with a black belt " to stop him.
stormcrow
What an arrogant young man!
Reminds me of the guy I saw driving recklessly in a parking lot the other day.
travelbangaijin
There is an additional video on X with him being confronted - he is Chinese.
WasabiWit
Apart from stoking discrimination and negative cultural stereotypes, is his nationality important?
He could be from anywhere, including Japan, and may be a Japanese resident or citizen.
Bow wife
News flash, Japanese commit crimes too and quite telling fibs to stoke hatred.
Mocheake
Just some clown who thinks he's tough because he's walking like it. Should have gotten gored.
Abe234
Any evidence to say he’s Chinese apart from stoking prejudice and nudge to the racists? Any evidence? Possibly Korean? Possibly Japanese? Unless it is proven, evidence, Japan today doesn’t even need to mention his nationality. It will always scratch the racist itch that looks for a reason to support their prejudices. No evidence! If you do find any, please let us know in the next updated article .
thinkbefore
Police where are you? Stop worrying about trivial things such as whether bicycles are locked or not. This is an incident you need to take a look at. Animal cruelty cannot be tolerated.
Three goals
The young man has broken the law!
Bellflower
Good job, Japan Today. This is a very interesting article that reports the truth about this incident that was ignored by almost all the Japanese media.
The video in the linked article is worth looking at. (It is in Japanese.) It calls into question two assumptions most of the media let spread. It seems probable that the man is neither Chinese nor a tourist.
Bellflower
I wondered two things about the original video that went viral. Why did the uploader claim the man was Chinese without providing any evidence? And why did the video begin for no obvious reason after the man walked through an area with only tourists and no deer? Why did the person taking the video decide to film in advance before the violence started? Was it chance or was it a staged video?
Mirchy
Well, you can see that the video was recorded on purpose. You can tell by the expression on his face that he knows someone is filming him.
Dave Fair
Seriously, I'm just glad I didn't witness this in person cause I would be the one arrested by J-Police for kicking and slapping this low life, and not the guy in the committing animal abuse!
Corey
Never approve of cruelty to any animals, but the virtue signaling by commenters here is a little tiresome. Also, I note that media have recently been writing about how aggressive Nara Park deer have been getting recently. I wonder if this guy, whoever he is, has been reacting to those articles.
Jimizo
Not as tiresome as people who keep parroting ‘virtue signaling’.
Corey
But predictably, people who virtue signal usually don’t even know what the term means. So, maybe the term is not even used enough.
Jimizo
Yawn.
nandakandamanda
Why is this article not in the ‘Crime’ section?
Peeping_Tom
"Deer kicking? anti-kimono mob? Japan hate is out of hand in China!"
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwklwvU02GY"