American arrested for damaging Tokyo shrine

Friday, 14 Nov, 2024 1

Tokyo police arrested an American tourist accused of defacing one of the city’s holiest shrines.

Steve Lee Hayes, 65 was detained and has confessed to carving his family name into the wooden pillar of a torii gate at the Meiji Shrine, police said.

He allegedly used his fingernails to carve it.

Hayes is in Japan on holiday with his family according to the international crime police.

The act was caught on security cameras at the shrine.

It has been described as an ‘act of mischief.’

Police said they found similar but unrelated carvings in another one of the shrine’s torii gates, and are investigating that.

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