An American man was detained for damaging the Meiji Jingu temple in Tokyo.

TOKYO – A 65-year-old American man has been taken into custody by police after he reportedly used his fingernails to carve inscriptions in a torii gate at Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu temple earlier this week.

According to authorities, Steve Hayes, who arrived in Japan on Monday for a vacation with his family, said he was playing a practical joke by writing the names of his relatives.

At around 11:20 a.m. on Tuesday, Hayes is accused of carving five Latin alphabet letters in an area of 5 cm by 6 cm on a torii gate pillar using the fingernails on his right hand.

When the shrine’s employees noticed the damage later that day, they alerted the police, who took him into custody the next day.

Etchings that looked like kanji characters were discovered on Sunday.