Angry at Yasukuni Shrine ‘toilet’ graffiti, Japan man posts US$64,000 bounty for vandal’s arrest

A Tokyo businessman was so incensed by what’s been described as the desecration of the shrine honouring the nation’s war dead that he has put up a reward of 10 million yen (US$63,960) for anyone who can help bring the suspect to justice.

Takasu’s posts on X have attracted more than 14 million views, the vast majority supporting his campaign to locate and detain the suspect, whose name and personal details have been published in online forums.

In the video, which was first posted on Chinese video sharing app Xiaohongshu on Saturday, the suspect identifies himself as “Iron Head” and says in English, “Is there nothing we can do about the Japanese government’s ocean release of contaminated water?”

Founded in 1869, the infamous shrine is dedicated to more than 2.46 million men, women and children who died in war. It is seen by Beijing and Seoul as a symbol of Japan’s past military aggression, and honours convicted war criminals among the war dead.

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Place of controversy: Japan’s Yasukuni Shrine

These includes 14 men who were tried and convicted of Class A war crimes during World War II, including General Hideki Tojo, who commanded the Kwantung Army in China and later served as prime minister, and Kenji Doihara, who headed the intelligence services in Tokyo’s puppet state of Manchukuo in northeast China in the 1930s and early 1940s.

“[China’s] Communist Party has, for decades, made a point of focusing attention on the shrine and making sure that it features prominently not only in education but also as a staple in war films and television dramas,” said James Brown, a professor of international relations specialising in Russian affairs at the Tokyo campus of Temple University. “So if you are a young person growing up in China,