The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward reported a new case of vandalism Monday, with staff discovering graffiti on a stone pillar and calling police at around 3:50 a.m.
Tokyo police are investigating the incident as property damage.
According to police, the graffiti, found on the pillar bearing the shrine’s name and its base at the shrine's entrance, was written with what appeared to be black pen. It included Chinese characters for “toilet” and various letters of the English alphabet.
It follows a similar incident on May 31 in which the same pillar was defaced with red spray paint. In July, police obtained arrest warrants for three Chinese nationals linked to incident in May. One suspect, a 29-year-old man living in Saitama Prefecture, has been arrested.
The other two suspects age 25 and 36 had arrived in Japan on May 29 and departed for Shanghai on June 1, shortly after the incident.
The two older men are suspected of spray-painting the word "toilet” in red on the shrine's stone pillar around 9:55 p.m. on May 31 while the 25-year-old man is suspected of recording the act.
A video of the incident, which also allegedly shows the 36-year-old urinating against the pillar, has circulated widely on social media.
The shrine is regarded as a symbol of Japan's past militarism by neighboring countries such as China and South Korea as it honors Class-A World War II criminals along with the war dead.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a ritual offering to the shrine on Thursday, the 79th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and two other Cabinet ministers visited the shrine the same day.