American tourist arrested in Japan for allegedly defacing shrine gate
TOKYO — An American tourist has been arrested in Japan for allegedly carving letters into a pillar of a gate to a shrine in Tokyo.
TOKYO — An American tourist has been arrested in Japan for allegedly carving letters into a pillar of a gate to a shrine in Tokyo.
Steve Lee Hayes, 65, was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of property damage, a spokesman from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department confirmed to NBC News.
Hayes, a U.S. citizen, had “carved alphabet letters onto a pillar of a gate of a shrine” in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo on Tuesday, police said. It's not clear what state Hayes is from.
The Japan Times reported that the letters were carved into a wooden pillar of a traditional entrance, known as a torii gate, at the Meiji Shrine.
Hayes allegedly used his fingernails to etch five letters onto one of the torii gates, and was identified as the suspect by security footage around the shrine, the outlet reported.
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