A New York-based doctor who said he believed he was “being guided by the Holy Spirit” has avoided prison time in Japan after defacing two ancient religious sites. A court on Thursday gave 63-year-old Masahide Kanayama an 18-month sentence, then suspended it for three years, ending a long legal saga that included a rare extradition from the US to Japan, the New York Times reports. Kanayama, founder of a Christian nonprofit, admitted applying oil to wooden pillars at a thousand-year-old Buddhist temple near Tokyo and to structures at a nearby Shinto shrine in 2015.
The judge called prioritizing personal religious beliefs to justify the damage “worthy of severe condemnation,” but cited his promise not to reoffend. Kanayama, an obstetrician-gynecologist, is a Japanese citizen and a US permanent resident. He has practiced in Manhattan for around 30 years and is considered a leading expert in endometriosis. “I believe the Holy Spirit works through me by giving me an ability to perform my unique surgical technique,” he told the Times last year. Kanayama was extradited to Japan earlier this year, a decade after Tokyo first requested extradition.
Authorities said the oil left blackish stains on temple pillars. They said that in YouTube videos from 2012, a man they identified as Kanayama talked about “anointing” shrines with oil. Similar incidents were reported at traditional buildings across Japan, the Japan Times reports, though Kanayama was not charged in connection with them. Japanese authorities denied claims from Kanayama and his lawyer the case was “religious persecution.” The extradition is “a matter of law enforcement and is in no way motivated by political or religious considerations,” Japan’s New York consulate said last year.