The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has obtained an arrest warrant for a Chinese youth over graffiti at the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, investigative sources said Thursday.
The youth is suspected of writing Chinese words, including one meaning toilet, as well as “SB,” which means stupid in Chinese internet slang, on a stone pillar and its base at the shrine around 10 p.m. on Aug. 18.
The arrest warrant cites charges of damaging property and disrespecting a place of worship.
According to the sources, the youth, along with a woman believed to be his relative, arrived in Japan a few days before the incident. Footage from security cameras around the shrine shows him standing alone on the pillar base and later walking to a hotel where he was staying in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward. He left Japan for Hong Kong the day after the incident.
The youth has posted pictures of himself and the graffiti, which is believed to have been drawn with a black marker, on social media.
A similar incident occurred at the same shrine in May, when the word “Toilet” was sprayed in red paint. In the case, the MPD’s public safety bureau obtained an arrest warrant for three Chinese men and arrested one of them. The remaining two, who returned to China after the incident, are on the international wanted list.
The shrine, which honors Class-A World War II criminals along with the war dead, is seen by people in some neighboring countries, such as China and South Korea, as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
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