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International Business Times
International Business Times
World
Bruce Golding

American Tourist Accused Of Vandalizing Sacred Japanese Shrine

People pass through the entrance gate to the Meiji Jingu shrine in Tokyo on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (Credit: YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP via Getty Images)

An American tourist is accused of desecrating the entrance gate to a sacred Japanese shrine in a "heartless" act of vandalism.

Steve Lee Hayes, 65, was allegedly caught on camera using his fingernails to scratch five letters into a pillar of the massive wooden structure, known as a torii, at the entrance to Tokyo's Meiji Jingu Shrine.

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