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

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

An American tourist was arrested for vandalism at a historic shrine in Tokyo a day after arriving in the country on vacation with his family.

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Japanese police have arrested a 65-year-old American tourist for allegedly defacing a Tokyo shrine. The man, identified as Steve Hayes, is accused of using his fingernails to scratch five letters into a torii gate at the Meiji Jingu shrine on Tuesday morning.

Tokyo police arrested an American tourist accused of defacing one of the city’s holiest shrines. Steve Lee Hayes, 65 was detained and has confessed to carving his family name into the wooden pillar of a torii gate at the Meiji Shrine, police said. He allegedly used his fingernails to carve it.

Steve Lee Hayes had carved letters onto a pillar of a gate of a shrine in Shibuya and was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of property damage, Tokyo Metropolitan Police said.

Police said Wednesday they have arrested a 65-year-old American male for allegedly defacing Meiji Jingu shrine in Tokyo earlier this

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