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submitted 2 weeks ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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.

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[-] Twitches@lemm.ee 132 points 2 weeks ago

Prison would be most appropriate.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 80 points 2 weeks ago

The fine sure seems low for defacing an important religious shrine.

[-] Dagnet@lemmy.world 36 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Not sure that shrine in particular but I do think torii gates in some shrines are replaced somewhat often. At Inari they had business names behind them which I assume are the 'sponsors' of that torii, probably they pay to have the gate fixed and I imagine that brings luck to that business. In short, he might have been lucky to deface the least critical part of the shrine.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago

That's good at least. I'd hate to think this was a century old (or whatever) torii he defaced.

[-] Dagnet@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

oh, Im just guessing here though (from what I saw when visiting), hopefully that is the case

[-] Zahille7@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Kinda like Americans donating to have a bench named after them in a park.

[-] boatswain@infosec.pub 5 points 1 week ago

My understanding is that the business names are there because Inari is a kami associated with merchants and businesspeople. They donate a gate, slap the company name on it, and Inari provides.

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[-] Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 101 points 2 weeks ago

Put that fuckin Boomer in prison for 3 years.

[-] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Bordering on Gen X but anyone this disrespectful is still a boomer. They need to jail him. A fine is too easy.

[-] Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago

Genx is 1965 – 1980.

At 65, he's 6 years too old to be Gen X.

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[-] villainy@lemmy.world 87 points 2 weeks ago

I could have guessed he was over 60 because he wasn't live streaming the whole thing. Just an old school asshole, not an influencer.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago

All that really proves is that people don't need YouTube to do things for attention.

[-] GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world 58 points 2 weeks ago

Americans being dumb cunts. What a surprise.

[-] Tug@kbin.earth 43 points 2 weeks ago

Like our election didn't give it away?

[-] GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

The rest of the world has known this for years.

[-] Kayday@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

So have we.

[-] A_Filthy_Weeaboo@lemmy.world 51 points 2 weeks ago

Like how dumb do you have to be?

... Checks timeline. Oh thats the norm...

[-] Boxscape 31 points 2 weeks ago
[-] WindyRebel@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

Looks like the Temu version of Bannon.

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[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 25 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Oh. I thought maybe he ate a banana on an offering plate or something culturally ambiguous

He fucking carved his name into wood? That's never OK anywhere

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[-] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago

Asshole should have his passport revoked on top of being jailed.

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[-] PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago

He’s cooked.

For the unaware, Japan has like a 99.9% conviction rate after arrests, because they basically don’t arrest unless they’re absolutely 100% positive that they can secure a conviction. The suspect also has no right to an attorney, and police abuse is common; Even if you’re innocent, they’ll just keep you in an interrogation room without any food or water for 72 hours until you “confess”. They’ll literally just rotate cops into the interrogation room, without giving you a break for food or sleep.

And Japanese prisons are some of the strictest. You’re basically expected to remain silent, and every moment of your time is accounted for. You get like 20 minutes to eat each meal (in your cell) and then like 30 minutes of “recreational” time outside, where you’re expected to kneel in place in an empty courtyard. Moving to and from your cell is akin to old elementary schools where everyone would have to line up single file and silently walk from one place to the next while following the teacher. And that’s pretty much your daily routine for the entire time you’re in. You sit in your cell, slam down what little food you get, silently walk to the courtyard, silently kneel for 30 minutes, silently walk back to your cell, and slam down dinner before bedtime. Any deviation is dealt with swiftly and violently by the guards.

Japan has a very skewed idea of criminal justice, because the prevailing attitude is that if you’re in prison, you must have done something to deserve it. It’s sort of a cyclical problem, where their insanely high conviction rate means that the public already assumes suspects are guilty before they have even been convicted.

[-] HawlSera@lemm.ee 10 points 1 week ago

"Guilty unless proven innocent" is literally the law in Japan

the Phoenix Wright series was literally made as a scathing critique of the Japanese Legal System, luckily the absurdity appeals to the West even if the commentary doesn't.

[-] Mwa@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Thanks for telling the truth, Alot of media like to show japan as a good country,like they wanna show certain countries as bad and good(I already knew some of the stuff but not everything mentione).

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[-] indomara@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Hmm, I happened across this video last week of a womens prison, and it doesn't seem quite so grim...

https://youtu.be/p8paAewtl0c

I also saw another video in a mens prison a while ago that showed them cooking all the meals, and it looked strict, but not so bad as you describe.

Of course these videos are propaganda...

Still, I would take a Japanese prison before an American one.

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[-] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 week ago

As he should be, what an absolute moron.

[-] clutchtwopointzero@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

Why people want to carve names on stuff... It's the same people who write their names on bathroom doors

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

No idea but it’s been going on for millennia

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 4 points 1 week ago

Bathrooms are like the only place this is OK...but do it in sharpie so it can easily be removed

[-] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That’s a slap on the wrist if they only impose the fine. That should be a five year jail sentence at least.

You cannot act like a dick like this in other countries. Defacing a religious site no less.

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[-] nutsack@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

what a stupid fuck

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago

America: making Japan worse since 1853 (with a brief pause in the mid-20th century while they did it to themselves).

[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 11 points 2 weeks ago

Would Japan have been better had the shogunate continued?

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I'll let you know when my window into parallel universes has been completed, but I promised someone else to look into whether or not the Aztecs would have been worse for Mexico if the Spanish hadn't invaded first.

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[-] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

We're doing it to ourselves again

[-] LuckyPierre@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago

What an arsehole.

[-] Empricorn@feddit.nl 11 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, that sounds like an American.

[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 9 points 2 weeks ago

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes

[-] x4740N@lemm.ee 7 points 2 weeks ago

Good, americans act like this and they get the consequences they deserve

[-] WhyFlip@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

If anyone acts like this they get the consequences.

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this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2024
379 points (99.2% liked)

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