Red Spray 'toilet' Graffiti on Yasukuni Shrine in Japan... Police Investigation Underway

Related videos also posted on Chinese SNS
Japanese police track suspect on property damage charges

Graffiti reading "toilet" in red spray paint was found at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, known as a stronghold of Japanese right-wingers, prompting local police to launch an investigation.

On the 2nd, Sankei Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun reported that local police confirmed the word "toilet" written in red spray paint on a stone pillar engraved with the name "Yasukuni Shrine" the previous morning.

The graffiti was discovered around 6:20 a.m. that day by a passerby who reported it to nearby police. After the graffiti was found, a barrier was set up around the stone pillar, and efforts to remove the spray paint were carried out. The graffiti was completely removed and restored to its original state within half a day.

On the 1st, a red spray-painted graffiti was discovered on the stone pillar at the entrance of Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, and a barrier was erected around it.
[Photo by Kyodo News]

Yasukuni Shrine commemorates the spirits of approximately 2,466,000 people who died in civil wars around the Meiji Restoration and numerous wars waged by Imperial Japan, including 14 Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War enshrined there. It is also known to house memorial tablets of about 20,000 Koreans who were forcibly conscripted into the war.

On the same day, a video was posted on Xiaohongshu (小紅書), a Chinese social networking service platform, showing a man presumed to be Chinese spray-painting graffiti in red on a stone pillar at Yasukuni Shrine. The man also appeared to simulate urinating on the pillar. Local netizens suggested that this man is a Chinese national YouTuber.

Japanese police are treating this man as a prime suspect and have started an investigation on charges of property damage. In a subsequently released video, the man stated that he took this action in protest against the Japanese government's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water, saying, "How can I do nothing while watching the Japanese government release nuclear-contaminated water?"

Yasukuni Shrine has experienced various incidents in the past, including graffiti and explosions. On November 23, 2015, a Korean man in his 20s planted an explosive device in the shrine's restroom and was arrested by Japanese police two weeks later. Initially, he said he had personal grievances against Yasukuni Shrine but later retracted this, stating he committed the act to cause a disturbance and be praised in Korea. There were no casualties, and property damage was minimal, but he was sentenced to four years in prison and served his term in Japan.

Additionally, in December 2011, a Chinese man threw a Molotov cocktail at the shrine's gate, and in December 2014, a Japanese man set fire within the shrine grounds.