I guess it’s because I went during Golden Week (a week when most of the Japanese are on vacation) so it was massively crowded, but my experience in Nara wasn’t that great…

I felt really bad for the deer—they seemed so miserable! They’re always surrounded by people and forced to eat the little biscuits—even when though they’ve had enough. I was really looking forward to petting and feeding the deer myself, but when I saw the number of people forcing the food into their mouth, I just couldn’t bear to do it.
I remember seeing this one couple who tried to feed a deer, but since it wouldn’t eat it, they stuck the biscuit into its hooves (to make it seem like it’s holding it) and took a picture on their cellphones, all the while the deer is just sitting there, looking sad. :/

Todaiji was awesome, though.