American tourist arrested for defacing historic Tokyo shrine
A 65-year-old US citizen has been detained by Japanese police on charges of damaging the wooden torii gate of Tokyo's Meiji Jingu shrine, one of the city's most frequented tourist attractions.
Officers arrested the American tourist on Thursday, accusing him of defacing one of the pillars of the traditional gate by scratching a few letters with his fingernail. The detainee admitted to the charges, stating that he carved the letters as a joke. The 65-year-old arrived in Japan on Monday for a family holiday.
Local media have not disclosed the potential penalty the suspect might face. The police have also withheld details about the nature of the carved symbols. This incident is the latest in a series of similar occurrences recently.
On Sunday, carvings resembling Chinese characters were discovered on another gate leading to the Meiji Jingu shrine. This week, police also began investigating after a symbol meaning "death" was found in two places on a stone wall of the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo.
In June and August, the pillars of the Yasukuni shrine's gate were defaced with the word "toilet" in English and Chinese. Yasukuni is a controversial site commemorating over two million Japanese people who died in World War II, including 14 politicians and military commanders who were classified as war criminals by the international tribunal.
Meiji Jingu Shrine
The shrine was completed and dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken in 1920, eight years after the Emperor's death and six years after the Empress's. Although it was destroyed during the war, it was promptly rebuilt, and since then, it has been a regular destination for tourists visiting Tokyo.
Visitors can engage in typical Shinto activities, such as making offerings in the main hall. During the first days of the New Year, millions flock to the shrine to perform the year's first prayers—no other shrine or sanctuary sees such numbers.
