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.

A 65-year-old American is suspected of carving alphabetical characters into the pillar of a torii gate of the Meiji Jingu Shrine.

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

The arrest of an American tourist for defacing a revered Tokyo shrine has highlighted a growing challenge for Japan, a country renowned for its politeness and reverence for tradition, now grappling with a surge in foreign tourists who sometimes disregard local customs and laws.

A 65-year-old US tourist was arrested for allegedly etching letters onto a traditional wooden gate at a Tokyo shrine, police said Thursday. | TAG24

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

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

Tokyo authorities arrested a 65-year-old U.S. tourist for allegedly defacing the grate of a local shrine on Tuesday.

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