A 61-year-old Austrian man was arrested last month for having sex in a sanctuary in Japan with a Japanese woman in her 40s, local police told CNN on Wednesday.
The couple was caught having sex on August 22 on the grounds of a shrine in Kesennuma, a small coastal town about 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Tokyo, and were charged with disrespecting a place of worship.
Police told CNN they arrested the man because they feared he might flee, but the woman was not arrested because she concluded there was no risk of her fleeing.
The man has since been released, but police said they could not provide details of his sentence or clarify whether he was a tourist or a resident. These cases do not always end in forced repatriation, police added, and can result in a fine.
Although such cases are rare, there have been other cases of people being arrested for disrespecting Japanese shrines.
Last year, a 17 year old Canadian was taken in for questioning after allegedly scratching the name “Julian” with his fingernail into a wooden pillar at a UNESCO-protected temple in the historic city of Nara, local police told CNN at the time.
“The boy has admitted to his actions and says it was not with the intention of harming Japanese culture,” a police official said. “He is now with his parents, who were with him when the incident occurred.”
Meanwhile, in 2010, famed photographer Kishin Shinoyama was charged with public indecency and disrespect to a religious site after allegedly taking nude photos at a public cemetery.
Yumi Asada reported from Tokyo, Issy Ronald wrote in London. CNN’s Karla Cripps and Eru Ishikawa contributed reporting.
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com