The Metropolitan Police Department arrested a 65-year-old American tourist on Wednesday on suspicion of desecrating the gates of the famous Meiji Shrine.

Authorities named the suspect as Steve Lee Hayes and claimed he had confessed to the crime of vandalizing the gate, Japan Times. reported. “I wrote the names of my family members,” Hayes reportedly said.

The Metropolitan Police Department arrested a 65-year-old American man on suspicion of damaging property after he carved letters into the wooden pillars of the torii gate of Meiji Shrine in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. https://t.co/zTEiGhJJWY

— Japan Times (@japantimes) November 14, 2024

According to the Japan Times, Hayes allegedly used his fingernails to carve five characters into a wooden torii gate around 11:15 a.m. Tuesday. Police used security footage to determine that Hayes was the culprit. Authorities suspect the incident was a prank. According to Travel Japan, torii gates are structures that mark the boundary between sacred and secular shrines in Japanese culture. Website. Although bowing in front of the gate is considered appropriate, it is not always done. Also, people often head to the left or right side of the gate instead of passing through the center. (Related: Young American woman goes missing while traveling abroad; police arrest man on suspicion of murder)

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s International Crimes Division, Hayes came to Japan with his family for sightseeing on Monday, The Japan Times reported. Police are also investigating other carvings that resemble Chinese characters carved into the pillars of another torii gate at the shrine, the paper said. Kanji is one of three Japanese scripts imported from the Korean peninsula in the 5th century. noticed. The characters use Kanji and are composed of ideograms.

Damaging structures or violating regulations at internationally recognized facilities can subject visitors to fees and hefty fines, NBC News reported. Meiji Shrine is a popular tourist destination that was built in 1920 to “remember the virtues of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, who worked hard to create the foundations of a modernized Japan” (the shrine’s website). said.

Emperor Meiji ruled from 1867 to 1912, a period of transformation in Japanese history, Encyclopedia Britannica noticed. Under his rule, Japan transitioned from a feudal society to an industrialized power.