Police have arrested a man for breaking into the Yasukuni Shrine on September 22. Police assume that the man intended to set the shrine alight, after he was found with a plastic bottle filled with toluene and two lighters. The man is also reported to be a Korean national, which has naturally drawn a reaction from Japan’s internet right-wing, the netouyo.
This is not the first incident of its kind at Yasukuni, with a similar attack being thwarted in 2011.
From MSN Sankei:
Korean Suspected Of Breaking Into The Yasukuni Shrine With Intention Of Setting It On Fire (?) Arrested — Tokyo Metropolitan Police Public Safety Bureau.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Public Safety Bureau have arrested Kang Yeon Min (23), an unemployed man with South Korean nationality, for trespassing at the Yasukuni Shrine after he was caught illegally entering the property. According to the bureau, the man has accepted the charges.
Due to the fact that police found a fluid that seemed to be flammable toluene in a plastic bottle that Kang had tried to throw inside the hall of worship, and also discovered two lighters in his backpack, police are considering the possibility that Kang broke into the shrine with the intention of setting it alight. They are currently investigating this in more detail.
The suspect is said to have broken into the northern part of the shrine in Kudanshita, Chiyoda ward at around 5pm on September 22.
At around 9pm, a male guard at the shrine discovered Kang hiding behind a toilet near the south gate. After attempting to escort Kang off the premises, he took out a 2 litre bottle from his rucksack, and attempted to scatter it over the hall of worship, so he was restrained by the guard.
Comments from Twitter:
めぎ＠新約パスタリエ萌え:
The 2-L bottle of toluene that the criminal had doesn’t seem like something you can usually get hold of. Wonder if this was an organised terror attack?
戦です:
Has anyone in the government made a comment on this?
Aoshima:
Intended to set it on fire!? If the guy had 2 litres of toluene, that would have been bomb terror…
優美高妙:
To the guard who restrained this man, thank you so much!! I’m really grateful!!
たけのこ:
He’s been badly educated. I feel really sorry for him, to have been educated by his country about “envy” “grudges” and “anger” since he was a kid. Still, please stop this meddling terrorism. And don’t come close to the shrine again. You’ll make it unclean.
アールグレイ:
What’s really unusual about this news is the fact that they guy was arrested by the public safety bureau, and that 2 squads of the police dealing with crimes by foreigners were sent out. This is clearly terrorism. Why is the media staying quiet about it? There should be special reports on something like this.
もふもふ@日本一周しました:
Hey! Let’s see more of this on the national news!!!!!
パトリ夫:
These days the only decent Japanese newspaper is the Sankei.
うしろ＠整地中:
Umm…2L of toluene is a bloody bomb!
両舷半速宜候:
Looks like some people just don’t want to be good to each other. [Apparently the man had been taking part in an anti-hate speech demo, organised by the “Let’s Be Good To Each Other” group]
りぜる@Верныйお出迎え:
No matter which way you look at it, this is terrorism.
kanomiyuki:
Give him the death penalty.
フィリピンで卵かけご飯:
Arson is a serious crime. Go eat rotten food in a Japanese jail. What’s that? It’s tastier than Korean food?
ぎがんて:
This is terrorism….what is the media thinking by not reporting this more widely!
千福♡:
He should be punished !!! ヾ(｀Д´*)ﾉﾞ
擬古熊:
A lot of Koreans died in the war as soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army (and a lot of these volunteered themselves to fight), and they are also enshrined at Yasukuni. But despite this, because of anti-Japanese education, everything is getting crazy.
