The 65-year-old reportedly admitted he ‘wrote his family members’ names’ on the wooden pillar

Summary

Steve Lee Hayes, a 65-year-old American tourist, was arrested in Tokyo for allegedly carving family members’ names into a wooden Torii gate at the Meiji Shrine.

Surveillance footage led police to his hotel, where he was detained.

Hayes admitted to the act, which could result in up to three years in prison or a fine of 300,000 yen ($1,900).

The Meiji Shrine, a significant Shinto site, was built in 1920 to honor Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The incident occurs amid a surge in international tourism to Japan this year.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    The Media used to be all “Look at these backwards countries, isn’t it silly how cultures exist outside of ours?” and kinda had to beckpedal HARD in the other direction because it was racist as all hell.

    The 90’s was kind of the last time mainstream media was allowed to hate on asians…

    Unless you were using criticisms of anime as a trojan horse for anti-asian sentiment (which explains all those “Lazy shallow parodies” of anime in the 2000’s. For the life of me I have yet to see ANY anime that’s just a school girl getting violated by a tentacle monster, yet the 2000’s Western Media would have you believe this happened like three times in every episode of Sailor Moon, six times in every episode of Pokemon, but only every now and then in Dragon Ball)

    Nowadays it’s a little too far in the other direction since you REALLY can’t say the slightest thing negative about any place that isn’t Israel, China, or North Korea. And up until the last three years or so, it was considered Anti-Semetic to criticize Israel in any context.

    • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      1 month ago

      which explains all those “Lazy shallow parodies” of anime in the 2000’s

      Perfect Hair Forever was a masterpiece

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        1 month ago

        Perfect Hair Forever was the rare exception that actually felt like the person who wrote it had seen an anime before, as the tropes it mocked were very much in line with anime. It even had a nonsense engrish outro that pretended to be deep.