Votive tablets by Hong Kong supporters vandalized

Wooden tablets carrying messages of support for the protestors in Hong Kong have been found vandalized at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan.

It is common in Japan for worshippers to write their wishes on wooden tablets and offer them at shrines and temples.

At the Kasuga Taisha shrine in Nara, a Chinese message encouraging the Hong Kong protestors was found crossed out. Another tablet with a Chinese text saying that none of their demands must be left unanswered was also defaced.

The shrine staff say they have been finding similarly vandalized tablets since mid-September.

At the Houkoku shrine in Osaka, a wooden tablet believed to have been offered by a person from Hong Kong was found damaged.

At the request of tourists from Hong Kong, the shrine has put up a notice in Japanese, English and Chinese, saying visitors must not write on tablets offered by other worshippers.

Similar cases were also reported by other temples and shrines, including the Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto and the Kotohira shrine in Kagawa Prefecture, western Japan.