Much has been written, and many hands wrung, over the opaque, obtuse, and obfuscating etiquette of the Japanese culture. In reality, though, for foreign tourists traveling in Japan, common sense will get you pretty far. Say please and thank you. If you’re stopping somewhere to check a map or dig through your bag, move to the side of the walkway so other people can get by. Refrain from humping in broad daylight at religious sites.
But apparently that last local manners point was a bit too hard for a 61-year-old Austrian tourist to adhere to, and was a social norm a Japanese female acquaintance of his was willing to break as well. At 11:35 in the morning on August 23, the police in the town of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, received a call reporting that two people were having sex on the grounds of a shrine. Though the shrine isn’t in a heavily populated area, the witness reported that the pair was engaged in the act in an open, easily seen location.
It’s worth noting that, especially outside of big cities, it can sometimes be kind of hard to determine the exact boundaries of a shrine’s grounds. With Shinto’s roots in the deification of nature, shrines are often located in forests or on mountainsides, and smaller or older shrines often consist of little more than a free-standing torii gate and a shed-sized structure containing a small altar, with no surrounding fences or walls to designate where the shrine’s territory starts and stops. So, theoretically, you could have a scenario in which two consenting adults, with either a sense of urgency or adventure, decided to get it on in the woods without knowing they were within a shrine’s boundaries.
That doesn’t appear to have been the case in the Kesennuma incident, however, as the witness says the Austrian man was leaning against the shrine building while engaged in the act.
This seems like a good time to remind everyone that, conceptually, Japan is well aware of the fact that sometimes people have a sudden need for a place to have sex, and in fact there’s an entire industry for it, with “love hotels” that rent out rooms at reasonable hourly rates. A quick Google search turns up at least two in Kesennuma.
The pair now face charges of disrespecting a place of worship, with the woman, a Kesennuma resident in her 40s, already admitting guilt. The man, on the other hand, has said that he would not make a statement until he had a lawyer present, and being deemed a flight risk, has been placed under arrest and taken into custody.
Sources: Miya Tele, Yahoo! Japan News/Sendai Housou, FNN Prime Online, TBS News Dig
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- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2024/08/26/foreign-tourist-in-japan-arrested-for-having-sex-on-shrine-grounds-in-broad-daylight/
81 Comments
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Chico3
Though, I don't condone this, wise decision on his part, since I'm guessing he's not from around there and didn' know the laws about this.
Alongfortheride
The comments on this one will be fun to watch
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deanzaZZR
I'm guessing the shrine inspired the two love birds with fox carvings with a suggestive shape.
Moonraker
What is more natural than sex? It's the essence of complex life and its perpetuation.
dagon
I have been to Kesennuma as a volunteer in the wake of the 2011 disaster. There are still stark ruins giving testimony to the power of the tsunami there. I recommend it.
There are combination volunteering/sightseeing tours there and I wonder if the man was a member of such a tour.
It would add an interesting layer to the incident.
piskian
Bet he's from Wien.
Estatesman
Easier to just admit guilt in this. Otherwise he is looking at 23 days confinement for each charge. 23 Days, let go, re-arrest, 23 days, let go, re-arrest, 23 days, let go, re-arrest...then wait for court. I am sure in this case he will pay a fine and be let go.
David Brent
Imagine being such a miserable, goody-goody two-shoes git, that when seeing this you decide to call the police and tell on them like a little school kid.
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Some dude
Imagine being such a miserable, goody-goody two-shoes git, that when seeing this you decide to **call the police and tell on them like a little school kid.**
I dunno. It's still probably preferable to hiding nearby and spying on them.
Corey
David Brent
Yes. You should at least wait until you finish watching them till they’re done. And then call the police.
Corey
Chico3
Yeah, good point. He’s not from around here. So why should he think there’s anything odd about having sex in public at a shrine? We must respect culture differences in this age of diversity.
Meiyouwenti
@Moonraker
“What is more natural than sex? It's the essence of complex life and its perpetuation”
Are you in the habit of having sex in shrine compounds to commune with Shinto deities?
NOMINATION
Unless Austria is freakier than I think it is, I am pretty sure sex in public is illegal there too.
Alongfortheride
I bet he did, the woman would have told him.
albaleo
Young people these days, eh. I hope their parents give them a good talking to and teach them some manners.
majikayo!
David Brent Imagine imagining something like you did.
himawari23
Imagine going to your local shrine to pray for family who died in 2011 and you’re greeted with wrinkly 61 year old balls…I’d call the cops too!
Antiquesaving
Not surprised by this being Sora news.
As expected trash sensationless tabloid type article.
The whole:
And basically 90% of the rest
All to make the foreign the focus and not the Japanese woman.
Because if the writer had focused on the Japanese partner then the above quote and most of rest wouldn't have any meaning.
Even the tittle is a tabloid tittle designed to make a big deal out of the "tourist/foreigner" part.
Notice:
Avoiding using "Japanese"
How about another tittle, "Japanese woman and her friend arrested for having sex at a shrine"
No that wouldn't be click bait enough, would it?
Sora is on a roll with a load of negative articles about tourists and foreigners and the "authors" are all foreigners, and I can guess exactly what type they are.
Antiquesaving
As much as the article is tabloid trash.
Trying to attack people over a common sense issue of reporting people having sex in public is bizarre.
But the
Part should have made you think.
It is school summer holiday season and shrines are places families go to visit during this time and children could easily be present.
Moonraker
All the time. Contributing to the life-force and fertility that Shinto supposedly venerates. I mean, they abandoned death to the Buddhists. Actually, Shinto, before its co-option by authoritarians in the Meiji period and distortion into Emperor-worshipping state Shinto, was very much about fertility. There used to be thousands of fertility shrines and phalluses everywhere. You can still see a few in Asuka in Nara prefecture.
Chabbawanga
Amd you wonder why there is a declining population
NCIS Reruns
Some years ago, Spa! magazine ran an article about couples in Japan who have sex in public, such as in children's playgrounds and on late-night commuter trains. Apparently it's not as rare as one might think. Since it's a victimless crime, anything more severe than a fine (and apology to the shrine) would be unwarranted.
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Asiaman7
Police are investigating the motive, according to the last line of the Yahoo news article (in Japanese).
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https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/5095a7eb3665bcb57475ded93426fa855f473b3a
nandakandamanda
What kind of sex act?
The key may be in this sentence: "the witness says the Austrian man was leaning against the shrine building while engaged in the act."
Asiaman7
Some dude
Your “other option” is hiding nearby and spying on them!?
Why not just walk away?
Nibek32
oh, I know this position.
tora
I'm just wondering what the circumstances were that led to the encounter. Even may have been spontaneous? You know, as a tourist, get lost, see a shrine, happen to meet a girl there. Nobody around. Lust at first sight, etc etc.
Anonymous
Yep. A real wiener.
Jonathan Prin
We all want to know the sex position that hurt the eyes of the person who reported to police.
So which one using the shrine building for suppport ?
I am surprised there is no report about the man being too noisy while doing his business while the Japanese woman was well behaving and quiet, as one should in this blessed place ;)
dagon
Given the evidence for the article on the Austrian man's position against the shrine it could be inferred that the Japanese lady was in a kneeling, reverent position.
WoodyLee
What the article doesn't mention is if they were under the influence of something, it is understandable but a very bad choice of a place to go for it.
O r may be they wanted their first intimacy to be Blessed, LOL.
Antiquesaving
We know he wasn't noisy, if he had been, we know that the article would have made that another point to point out the bad foreign tourist, it is a hallmark of foreign Sora writers that seem to hate other foreigners.
Remember folks it is the bad foreigner, ignore the Japanese woman part like the author is trying to do.
MiuraAnjin
Effectively a custodial sentence for this?
Good grief.
owzer
Her admission will be used as evidence against him. Looks like he's getting screwed twice.
smithinjapan
Did police wait until they had finished?
owzer
They wanted to, but somebody called it in so they had to stop filming.
owzer
Sex at a local shrine!? Where do we sign up for this tour??
ushosh123
Takes 2 to tango
CaptDingleheimer
"The most amazing thing is that he found a Japanese woman in her 40's who actually wants to have sex."
-CaptDingleheimer
(a man in his 40's married to a Japanese woman in her 40's)
DurraSell
It would make for a very metaphysical orgy.
Hervé L'Eisa
I think it's "interesting" that the man was immediately identified as being 61, whereas the woman was much later claimed to be "in her 40's".
I just find that interesting.
vegas_guy
owzerToday 08:42 pm JST
Sex at a local shrine!? Where do we sign up for this tour??
Funniest comment I've seen in a while.
Antiquesaving
All those going on about the arrest, the " no big deal" how people are over reacting, etc...
He and she are lucky this is Japan.
In the USA and Canada they would probably be charged under a sex offence and if found guilty be put on a sex offenders list.
Think about that!
owzer
Yes, well that last part is not uncommon.
mounted
Get a room!
quercetum
A Japanese woman was having sex in broad daylight. Her companion has refused to comment.
justasking
Just admit to it and pay the fine. The reason this is news is because he want to make it bigger than it is.
Lot’s of people have sex in public in Japan. They’re just unlucky they got reported.
theFu
Not Kanamara-sama? Are they certain?
Very true. Those lists never get names removed. Megan's Law is the common name used. https://www.findlaw.com/criminal/criminal-charges/community-notification-laws-megan-s-law.html
kaimycahl
It seems that those who have a problem with the two consenting adults engaging in an unlawful act at the shrine has more of a hard on than the guy himself and is getting more enjoyment from reading about it than the women who was from Kesennuma.
Strangerland
I've done it at night at a temple. I didn't know it was illegal!
Gene Hennigh
Ah, c'mon. Kids could have come across this. Would you want your kid exposed to this? Shrine or not, sex in public is not a good thing. There is sex in public, yes, but usually after dark and where people are unlikely to see it. Is there a country that would condone this? Which ones? Let us know. The US? South Korea? The Uganda? Which are the countries. I don't know of one. Educate me. I must be missing something.
travelbangaijin
This is disrespectful to Japan and no one want to see a 61-year-old European limper and a self-hating Asian past their sexual primes engaged in sexual acts - I hope they treat him accordingly behind bars
Matt
Hope they got a goshuin too to commemorate the occasion
餓死鬼
Sounds like his companion helped him with that.
Brian Wheway
I am all in favor of our door sex, but, there is a time and place, a temple in day light is not the right time or the right place. I am sure if you went to most countries in the world having sex at a church, temple or shrine will get you a lot of unwanted attention! Wether or not your religious, just be considerate and thoughtful of the local people.
TaiwanIsNotChina
People have sex. If they didn't cause any damage, should be a misdemeanor.
TokyoLiving
Jail for both and deport for that clown..
Yrral
Their punishment of being put on sex offender list for having sex in public,you be charged with disorderly conduct
GBR48
Behave yourself on your hols/abroad or you will get deported. Once that is stamped in your passport, nobody else will let you in.
In the war on tourism/foreigners, these are 'sinking of the Lusitania' moments. Until someone points out that a large percentage of the stuff in the Japanese section of adult websites features Japanese people getting it on with other Japanese people in public areas - parks, trains, streets, often in daylight, plus all the fake sharking videos.
ebisen
As someone else wrote - this was not a Christian church, but a Shinto shrine. I know nothing about religions, but doesn't Shinto always worship the natural? I know a lot of shrines that worship the sex, the genitals and the act of conception. Japan itself was created by the Shinto gods this way. So I don't understand the problem here ;) .
starpunk
Common sense will tell you, *do what you're going to do*** but don't do it here! **
Anybody enjoying this pseudo-'Starr Report' yet?
Prostitution transcends all boundaries.
I think it's pretty obvious what kind of sex they were doing. The editor was just trying to be 'nice' in writing this story. And it should never be done out in the open, and certainly never in a religious place. Desecration!
BurakuminDes
You did not know this type of thing in public is illegal? Pretty sure it is in most nations.
JeffLee
The Japanese woman may have been the one to have initiated it. A friend of mine said his Japanese girlfriend was turned on by having it out at temples and shrines, which they did a few times at her insistence.
miss_oikawa
Sure caught banged to rights..
Alan Bogglesworth
Making religion fun again.
Makoto Shimizu
It is absurd to punish a couple making love, not war.
Antiquesaving
Yet in your beloved USA, it would be categorised as a sex offence, which would be far more serious than what they are facing in Japan.
If found guilty in the USA, they would both be life time members of the sex offenders registry.
I like how so many here just brush aside the fact that most western countries they (those commenting) come from, this would be a very serious offence.
People have been put on the sex offenders lists in western countries for having sex in public restrooms inside stalls out of view of the general public, think about that for a minute.
wallace
Next time try a love hotel with a shrine theme.
Antiquesaving
Really? Ok try it in your country and do it where you are seen.
Let us know how that goes!
Oh wait, does your country have access to the internet in prison?
miss_oikawa
That's absolutely moronic. Sums up the USA.
OssanAmerica
Engaging in sex in a public place is illegal under public indeceny laws in both Austria and Japan and carry penalties.
This is high school level stupidity. At their ages you'd think they'd know better.
And no one took a video? lol
lol
Antiquesaving
OK, then add Canada, UK, even Australia, etc..have similar laws and registries.
In all these places having sex in public is a crime, but if any minors are present within a certain distance and or even could have seen the act, then the possibility of the offence being raised to a sex offence ans landing the person on a sex offenders list in all these countries.
Antiquesaving
Yes and in Australia if that act is done within view or within possible view or were minors are present even if the minors didn't see anything.
Then they run the possibility that the charges are elevated to sex offenders level.
A shrine in the middle of the day has a high possiblity of children being nearby, so lucky they got caught in Japan and not Australia.
CrashTestDummy
Taking PDA to the next level. Lol.
Moonraker
Oh dear! Some people live such staid lives. But think of the children, blah, blah. We need to live a little dangerously sometimes. And what better place than a shrine to animism.
wallace
Cheaper than the one-mile-high.
WoodyLee
Her hello, when are you going back to your country ?
Tourist, Tomorrow am.
Her, Oh that's fast, hum got few minutes ?
Tourist, sure what's on your mind?
Her, I just want to give you something before you go back.
Tourist, me? Sure thank you. What is it ?
Her, Not her though.
Tourist, Oh where?
Her, Hummmm, behind these trees.
justsomeguy8008
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I read the article on ynews and notice they mentioned that the Austrian guy was jobless. But on here he is mentioned as a tourist. What's that all about?
I_love_Minoltas
This is a pre-law issue. The problem is that to engage in such behavior in a religious institution, in any country, in any religion, is a strong lack of respect for the other person or religions.
Zaphod
At least they should have selected a suitable shrine for that stunt, like the Kanamara shrine in Kawasaki.
Jordan
60s and 40s? They’re ancient. And should know better