American tourist arrested in Japan for defacing a religious shrine by carving into gate with his fingernails - The 65-year-old reportedly admitted he ‘wrote his family members’ names’ on the wooden pi

Steve Lee Hayes carved letters onto a pillar of a gate of a shrine in Shibuya and was arrested on suspicion of property damage, Tokyo police said.

Steven Lee Hayes, 65, is accused of carving his family's name into the gate of a famed Tokyo shrine, say police.

An American visiting Japan with his family has been arrested on suspicion of vandalism after allegedly desecrating Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu Shrine. According to Reuters, the 65-year-old (identified as Steve Lee Hayes) clawed five letters representing family names into a pillar of the Torii gates with his fingernails.

Suspect Steve Lee Hayes, 65, allegedly carved letters into the wooden pillar of one of the shrine's torii gates.

Read the rest The post American tourist arrested for scratching family names into sacred Japanese shrine as a "prank" appeared first on Boing Boing.

An American tourist was arrested for vandalism at a historic shrine in Tokyo a day after arriving in the country on vacation with his family.

A 65-year-old American tourist has been arrested in Japan for carving letters into a wooden gate at a shrine in Tokyo.

An American tourist has been arrested in Japan for allegedly carving letters into a pillar of a gate to a shrine in Tokyo.