A Canadian teenager has been questioned in Japan after he carved his name into a wooden pillar at an 8th-century temple.
Police said the incident took place in the Toshodaiji Kondo temple last week, which is in the city of Nara.
Speaking to CNN, officers said: “On the pillars to the side, the boy carved ‘Julian’ on a wooden pillar about 170cm above the ground with his nail.”
The 17-year-old has been questioned on suspicion of violating the cultural properties protection law in Japan.
The monument’s Golden Temple is also designated as a national treasure.
According to The Mainichi, a newspaper in Japan, a letter “J” was found 4cm long and 5cm wide – and the name “Julian” was 2.5cm long and 10cm wide on the pillar.
A Japanese tourist reportedly saw the new inscriptions being made and initially intervened, before alerting staff at the temple.
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The boy reportedly said he had no intention of harming Japanese culture.
He will not be detained, but an investigation will continue.
A Buddhist temple, Toshodaiji Kondo was constructed in the 8th century and was designated as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1998.
It is part of eight monuments in the city known as the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.
It comes after a similar story in Rome last month where a tourist carved his name into the wall of the Colosseum using a key.
He was filmed carrying out the vandalism and was made to write an apology to the city’s prosecutor.
