TOKYO — Police said Wednesday they have arrested a 65-year-old American male for allegedly defacing Meiji Jingu shrine in Tokyo earlier this week by using his fingernails to scratch letters in a torii gate there.
Steve Hayes, who arrived in Japan for a holiday with his family on Monday, claimed he was writing his family members’ names as a prank, according to the police.
Hayes is suspected of using fingernails on his right hand to carve five letters of the Latin alphabet in a space measuring roughly 5 centimeters by 6 cm on a torii gate pillar at around 11:20 a.m. Tuesday.
Staff of the shrine discovered the damage later that same day and called the police, who arrested him the following day.
On Sunday, etchings resembling kanji characters were found on another torii gate at the shrine.
