The 65-year-old reportedly admitted he ‘wrote his family members’ names’ on the wooden pillar

Summary

Steve Lee Hayes, a 65-year-old American tourist, was arrested in Tokyo for allegedly carving family members’ names into a wooden Torii gate at the Meiji Shrine.

Surveillance footage led police to his hotel, where he was detained.

Hayes admitted to the act, which could result in up to three years in prison or a fine of 300,000 yen ($1,900).

The Meiji Shrine, a significant Shinto site, was built in 1920 to honor Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The incident occurs amid a surge in international tourism to Japan this year.

      • Dagnet@lemmy.world
        14·
        9 hours ago

        Not sure that shrine in particular but I do think torii gates in some shrines are replaced somewhat often. At Inari they had business names behind them which I assume are the ‘sponsors’ of that torii, probably they pay to have the gate fixed and I imagine that brings luck to that business. In short, he might have been lucky to deface the least critical part of the shrine.

  • villainy@lemmy.world
    58·
    12 hours ago

    I could have guessed he was over 60 because he wasn’t live streaming the whole thing. Just an old school asshole, not an influencer.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    188·
    12 hours ago

    America: making Japan worse since 1853 (with a brief pause in the mid-20th century while they did it to themselves).

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        151·
        11 hours ago

        I’ll let you know when my window into parallel universes has been completed, but I promised someone else to look into whether or not the Aztecs would have been worse for Mexico if the Spanish hadn’t invaded first.

        • wildcardology@lemmy.world
          2·
          5 hours ago

          Damn, I was asking myself this very question about the Aztecs about a week ago. Also how would the indigenous people in america progress if the colonizers didn’t discover America. I believe they are nomads?

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            1·
            4 hours ago

            One of the reasons the Spanish were able to contact the Aztecs is that their neighbors were really tired of being conquered and forced to pay tribute. So I’m guessing the Aztec empire in Mesoamerica would have gotten and the already massive Inca empire would have become far more massive. Not sure about any of the cultures other than those.