American arrested for defacing Meiji Jingu Shrine in Tokyo

Police said Wednesday they had arrested a 65-year-old American man for allegedly defacing Tokyo's Meiji Jingu Shrine earlier this week by using his fingernails to carve letters into a torii gate there.

Steve Hayes, who arrived in Japan on Monday for a vacation with his family, claimed he wrote down his family members' names as a joke, according to police.

Hayes is suspected of using the fingernails of his right hand to carve five letters of the Latin alphabet into a roughly 2-by-2-inch area on a torii gate pillar around 11:20 a.m. Tuesday.

Shrine staff discovered the damage later that day and called police, who arrested him the following day.

On Sunday, etchings resembling kanji characters were found on another torii gate at the shrine.

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