TOKYO, Dec 28 — A 29-year-old Chinese man has been sentenced to eight months in prison by Tokyo District Court after spray-painting graffiti on the historic Yasukuni Shrine.
According to Nitele News, Jiang Zhuojun, who resides in Japan, was convicted of damaging property and disrespecting a place of worship, following the incident on May 31, when he used red spray paint to write the word “toilet” on one of the shrine’s stone pillars.
Jiang was identified and charged in July, with sentencing announced on December 25.
The court dismissed his claims of protest motives, emphasising that illegal acts are not a permissible form of expression.
Jiang had argued that his actions were intended to oppose Japan’s release of treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the ocean, a move approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency as safe under international standards.
The Yasukuni Shrine, founded in 1869 in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, honours Japan’s war dead, including soldiers from World War II.
It has often been a focal point of political tension, particularly for neighbouring nations such as China and South Korea, due to its inclusion of convicted war criminals among the 2.4 million individuals it commemorates.