A Chinese man was arrested and two others placed on a wanted list for allegedly defacing a Japanese war shrine that has long angered other Asian nations, Tokyo police said Wednesday.
The Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo honours 2.5 million mostly Japanese killed in wars since the late 19th century, including convicted war criminals.
Jiang Zhuojun, 29, who lives north of Tokyo, was arrested "on suspicion of vandalism and disrespect for a place of worship", a Tokyo metropolitan police spokesman told AFP.
Police also issued arrest warrants for two other Chinese men, Dong Guangming, 36, and Xu Laiyu, 25, placing them on wanted lists, but the spokesman said the two seem to have left the country.
Jiang, together with Dong, allegedly spray-painted the word "toilet" in red on a pillar of the shrine on May 31 while Xu filmed them, the spokesman said.
A video posted on Chinese social media showed a man appearing to urinate on the stone pillar before spray-painting it, local media reported.
The police spokesman confirmed officers had seen the video.
Dong earlier told Japanese broadcaster TBS that he admits the vandalism, but would not report to police because the conduct was a protest against Japan's release of treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
The UN atomic watchdog says the discharge which began last August is harmless but China, later joined by Russia, banned all Japanese seafood imports, saying that Tokyo was treating the Pacific "like a sewer".
Yasukuni also includes a museum that portrays Japan largely as a victim of US aggression in WWII and makes scant reference to the extreme brutality of invading Imperial troops when they stormed through Asia.
Government ministers still regularly pay hommage at Yasukuni, infuriating China, South Korea and others, although no prime minister has visited since Shinzo Abe in 2013.
© 2024 AFP
14 Comments
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Fighto!
Imagine how a foreigner would be dealt with if they staged a protest at Tiananmen Square over Chinese atrocities, genocide and massacres?
They would be summarily executed.
Bob Pns
Thats bad. What does it have to do with this article though?
kaimycahl
Lock this idiot up he doesn't believe in boundaries nor does he believe he is a guest of a country. There is no way he would have committed such an act in China because he would have been possibly sent to a camp. Japan should prosecute this guy to the fullest and once he does his time in jail deport him immediately after he pays for his room and board in jail!!! "would not report to police because the conduct was a protest against Japan's release of treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant".
factchecker
Deport this creep and ban his whole family from ever visiting.
tooheysnew
throw him jail & put him on toilet duty
GuruMick
Tokyo living above....
"Jail AND deport "
Could be difficult....would you "deport " the jail building as well ?
Or did you mean "Jail THEN deport "?
Mat
As others have said, it's rather telling that this was done by a Chinese person living in Japan. He's clearly annoyed at Japan, but chooses to live here anyway? Seems a bit hypocritical.
TokyoLiving
Jail and deport !!!...
Zaphod
I thought he had left the country. Did he really think he can live here and do that?
Spidey
This.
S
Jay Que
I have been to, and have said prayers at, Yasukuni, several times over the years. My Dad was in the U.S. Army, WWII, thankfully remained stateside.
sakurasuki
It's not that hard to arrest someone in Tokyo after doing that kind of act. It took almost two months?
TheRegulator
A hero.
deanzaZZR
Imagine a smaller country to invading its much larger neighbor and indiscriminating murdering millions of civilians.