Japan welcomed nearly 27 million visitors through September, a record pace, and their spending added 5.86 trillion yen ($37.5 billion) to the economy. But incidents of vandalism, public drunkenness, and "overtourism" at popular sites have sparked debate about how to handle the flood of visitors and those who flout the rules.

Tokyo authorities arrested a 65-year-old U.S. tourist for allegedly defacing the grate of a local shrine on Tuesday.

A 65-year-old American tourist was arrested for allegedly etching letters onto a traditional wooden gate at a Tokyo shrine, police said Thursday, the latest example of bad behaviour by visitors flooding back to Japan post-pandemic.