A deer in Nara Park in November 2020 (Asahi Shimbun file photo) NARA--A man has been arrested here under suspicion of violating the Cultural Assets Preservation Law for killing a deer--God’s sacred messenger according to ancient myth--an act that once was a capital offense in Japan. Nara prefectural police on March 2 arrested Hayato Yoshii, 23, a construction assistant in Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture, in connection with the death of a deer last month. Police said sometime around Feb. 7, Yoshii smashed a sharp, thick object against the head of a doe estimated to be 11 years old, at Nara Park, a major tourist attraction in the city home to many deer.