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.

    • x4740N@lemm.ee
      21·
      2 hours ago

      People generally shit on americans because they’ve earned a international representation of themselves that got even worser recently

      We know not all of you americans are horrible but we still do like to shit on the horrible ones

    • WrenFeathers@lemmy.world
      21·
      8 hours ago

      M pretty sure the dude would still be a piece of shit regardless of what country he was shat from.

      • JargonWagon@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 hour ago

        Yeah he would be, that’s not the point of my comment nor the point of the comment I replied to. Would he get the same comments this thread is giving this guy? Nah. Lemmy loves to hate on Americans. If he was German or Swedish, the amount of vitriol would be very much lessened.