Tokyo police announced on Wednesday that a Chinese man was arrested, and two others are wanted for allegedly vandalizing a controversial Japanese war shrine.
The Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo commemorates 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including convicted war criminals, which has been a source of tension with other Asian nations. Jiang Zhuojun, 29, residing north of Tokyo, was arrested on suspicion of vandalism and disrespecting a place of worship, according to a Tokyo metropolitan police spokesman.
Arrest warrants were issued for Dong Guangming, 36, and Xu Laiyu, 25, who are believed to have left the country.
Jiang and Dong allegedly spray-painted the word “toilet” in red on a shrine pillar on May 31, with Xu filming the act, as shown in a video circulating on Chinese social media.
Dong admitted to the vandalism in an interview but stated he wouldn’t report to police, citing the act as a protest against Japan’s treated wastewater release from the Fukushima nuclear plant. The UN and Japanese authorities assert the wastewater poses no threat, but China and Russia banned Japanese seafood imports in response.
Yasukuni Shrine, which also houses a museum portraying Japan’s WWII history from a controversial perspective, remains a point of contention among Asian countries. Japanese government officials continue to pay respects at the shrine, despite protests from China, South Korea, and others.
