A Chinese national living in Japan has been arrested for allegedly helping vandalise a controversial shrine in Tokyo , the local police said on Wednesday.
Two others have been placed on a wanted list for allegedly defacing the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo.
Founded in 1869 by Emperor Meiji, the war shrine honours the deaths of 2.5 million Japanese soldiers and civilians who died in wars in the 19 th and 20 th centuries. The shrine is controversial as it also honours several convicted war criminals . The controversial war shrine is viewed by Seoul and Beijing as a symbol of Japanese militarism .
A video showing a man urinating on the stone pillar at the Yasukuni shrine before spray-painting the words “toilet” on it was widely shared on social media in Japan and led to a massive outrage.
A man who identified himself as “Iron Head” criticised the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean in a video posted to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu in early June.
A Tokyo metropolitan spokesperson said that 29-year-old Jiang Zhuojun, who lives in the north of Tokyo, was arrested “on suspicion of vandalism and disrespect for a place of worship”.
The incident reportedly occurred on 31 May at about 9.55pm local time.
Police said that the other two Chinese men – identified as Dong Guangming, 36, and Xu Laiyu, 25 – were both placed on a wanted list.
But the spokesperson said the duo seemed to have left the country.
According to The Japan Times , Mr Jiang and Mr Dong allegedly spray-painted the shrine pillar on 31 May while Mr Xu filmed them.
Mr Dong earlier told Japanese broadcaster TBS that he admits to the vandalism but will not report to the police, as his actions were a protest against Japan’s release of treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant.
Yasukuni shrine, in a statement emailed to the Associated Press , said the graffiti was “extremely regrettable” and called it “an act of degrading the dignity of the shrine”.
Japan started to release more than one million metric tonnes of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, into the ocean, last year.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approved the plan in July last year, saying that it met international standards and that the impact it would have on people and the environment was “negligible”.
According to the Tokyo metropolitan police department’s public security bureau, the damage to the Yasukuni shrine is estimated at 4.2 million yen ($26,000).
Mr Dong is suspected of being the main perpetrator, while Mr Xu is alleged to have filmed the act.
Government ministers still regularly pay homage at Yasukuni shrine, infuriating China, South Korea, and others. However, no prime minister has visited since Shinzo Abe did in 2013, according to The Japan Times.
In April this year, South Korea expressed “deep disappointment” following Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida ’s ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine. Mr Kishida and some cabinet members sent ritual offerings to the shrine on Sunday, Yonhap news agency reported, citing Japanese media.
Without directly mentioning the Japanese leader, the South Korean foreign ministry said that it regrets the Japanese leader’s visit and offering to the shrine “ which glorifies Japan’s war of aggression and enshrines war criminals”.
Meanwhile, “Iron Head” is known on Chinese social media for videos accusing stall owners of dubious sales practices. His content was recently removed from the internet after he documented his experiences soliciting sex, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
He has since returned to China and told a Japanese journalist that he has no reason to reflect on his behaviour. The report said that the vandalism he committed at the Yasukuni shrine has been favourably received on Chinese social media, although many are sceptical of his motives.
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