The sight of wild deer roaming freely in city streets sounds strange and surreal, but that is exactly what Kanagawa-based photographer Yoko Ishii has captured.
Ishii took these captivating images in the ancient city of Nara and Miyajima Island in Japan, where the wild Sika deer are considered sacred animals. The antlered inhabitants number over 1,000 in Nara alone, and have become a fascinating tourist attraction for visitors.
However, there is a dark side to these adorable creatures; in other regions they are looked upon as pests due to their feeding habits which destroy farmers’ crops. Writing in his project description, Ishii states that locals in the affected areas are encouraged to carry out population control measures, revealing that “more than 360,000 deer are killed” every year.
Scroll down for more photographs of deer wandering in urban settings.
[via Feature Shoot, images via Yoko Ishii]