17-year-old tourist accused of vandalizing 8th-century Japanese temple
A 17-year-old Canadian boy was taken in for questioning in Japan for allegedly carving up a pillar at a 1,200-year-old Buddhist temple listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, local police said.
The suspected vandalism took place Friday at the Toshodaiji Kondo temple in the historic city of Nara — Japan’s ancient capital – located south of Kyoto.
A Japanese visitor spotted the foreign national etching the name “Julian” with his fingernail into a wooden pillar supporting the roof of the temple, which was completed in 759 AD, reported the Sankei News.
The rogue engraving was made more than 5 feet above the floor, according to an official with the Nara Prefecture Police.
The tourist who saw the teen defacing the historic landmark reportedly told him to stop and then alerted temple staff.
Workers at the Toshodaiji complex contacted the police, and the youngster was brought in for questioning the next day.
“The boy admitted his act and says it was done not with the intent of harming Japanese culture,” the police official told CNN. “He is now with his parents, who were with him when the incident occurred.”
The 17-year-old is being investigated on suspicion of violation the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties.
The defaced pillar is part of the temple’s “Golden Hall” that was designated a national treasure in 1951.
“We are worried that the same thing could happen again. Even though it may have been done without malice, it is still regrettable and sad,” a monk at the Toshodaiji temple said.
Toshodaiji, founded by the 8th-century Chinese monk Jianzhen, is one of eight sites that make up the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, which UNESCO listed as a World Heritage Site in 1998.
This latest act of vandalism in Japan comes just weeks after a UK tourist, identified as 27-year-old Ivan Dimitrov, allegedly carved his and his fiancée’s names into a wall at Rome’s 2,000-year-old Colosseum.
After being unmasked as the suspected culprit by the Italian police, Dimitrov penned a groveling apology letter, claiming that he was not aware just how old the world-famous amphitheater was when he defaced it, as seen in a viral video.
“I admit with the deepest embarrassment that only after what regrettably happened, I learned of the antiquity of the monument,” Dimitrov wrote.
