Canadian teen quizzed for allegedly defacing ancient Japan temple

Tokyo, July 11 (IANS) A Canadian teenager has been questioned for allegedly scribbling his name on a wooden pillar of an ancient Buddhist temple in Japan's Nara city, officials said.

The incident took place on July 7 at the premises of the Toshodaiji Kondo, one of the places in the historic city that Unesco has designated as World Heritage Site "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara", reports CNN.

It was founded in 759.

“On the southwest side of Toshodaiji Kondo, there are wooden pillars supporting the roof,” a police official told CNN. 

“On the pillars to the side, the boy carved ‘Julian’ on a wooden pillar about 170 cm above the ground with his nail.”

The official said a Japanese tourist saw the teen defacing the pillar and told him to stop before notifying temple employees.

Soon after, temple staff alerted nearby police of the incident and the teenager was brought in for questioning the following day, said the official.

“The boy admitted his act and says it was done not with the intent of harming Japanese culture,” the official told CNN.  

“He is now with his parents, who were with him when the incident occurred.”

The official added that police would continue to investigate and if the teen is found to be in violation of the Law for Protection of Cultural Properties he will be referred to prosecutors. 

However, he will not be detained.

Under Japanese law, any person who has damaged an object of "important cultural property" could face up to five years in prison, or a fine of 300,000 yen ($2,120), the BBC reported.

The incident in Nara follows a video which showed a UK-based man carving a message into a wall at Rome's ancient Colosseum.

The man, Ivan Dimitrov, faces legal proceedings after cutting "Ivan+Haley 23" into stone at the 2,000-year-old monument. 

He has apologised and said that was not aware how old the monument was when he acted.