A 61-year-old Austrian man was arrested last month in Japan for engaging in sexual activity with a Japanese woman in her 40s at a shrine, as reported by local police on Wednesday.
The incident took place on August 22 at a shrine in Kesennuma, a small coastal town located approximately 500 kilometers north of Tokyo. The couple was apprehended and faced charges of disrespecting a place of worship.
Authorities decided to arrest the man due to concerns about him potentially fleeing, while the woman was not detained as there was no perceived risk of her escaping. The man has since been released from custody, although specific details regarding his punishment were not disclosed. It remains unclear whether he was a tourist or a resident, and the police mentioned that such cases may result in fines rather than forced repatriation.
While incidents of this nature are uncommon, there have been previous cases of individuals facing legal consequences for disrespecting Japanese shrines. In a similar occurrence last year, a 17-year-old Canadian was questioned for allegedly defacing a wooden pillar at a UNESCO-listed temple in Nara. The teenager admitted to the act, claiming it was not intended to harm Japanese culture, and was accompanied by his parents at the time of the incident.
In a separate incident in 2010, renowned photographer Kishin Shinoyama was charged with public indecency and disrespecting a religious site for reportedly taking nude photographs at a public cemetery.
