A court in Japan on Thursday handed a Manhattan doctor a suspended sentence of 18 months in prison after finding him guilty of vandalizing two ancient religious sites, capping more than a decade of litigation that led to a rare extradition.
Masahide Kanayama, 63, had been accused of smearing an oily liquid on wooden pillars at a thousand-year-old Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Tokyo and on an offerings box at a Shinto shrine founded in 643 B.C. Both incidents took place in 2015.
Dr. Kanayama, a practicing Christian, admitted during the trial that he had damaged the sites. “I poured the oil believing I was being guided by the Holy Spirit, but it was my own misconception,” he told the court, according to NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster.
In her ruling on Thursday, Judge Yoko Sugiyama of the district court in Chiba, a prefecture east of Tokyo, noted the historical and cultural value of the structures, and said “the act of prioritizing one’s own religious beliefs” to commit the crime “warrants severe condemnation.”
The court suspended the sentence for three years, citing factors including Dr. Kanayama’s vow to never repeat the offense, NHK reported.
It was not clear whether he would return to the United States following the sentencing. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dr. Kanayama, a Japanese citizen and legal permanent resident of the United States, has practiced medicine in Manhattan for nearly three decades. He is an expert in endometriosis, a gynecological condition that can be debilitating.
He also founded a nonprofit called International Marketplace Ministry, which focuses on personal relationships to God through prayer in daily life and work, according to court papers from his extradition hearings.
“I believe the Holy Spirit works through me by giving me an ability to perform my unique surgical technique,” Dr. Kanayama told The New York Times in November last year. “When guided by faith, medicine becomes a way to serve God by serving others. My goal is to let God’s love be reflected through my actions and services.”
Japan asked the United States to extradite him in 2016. He has repeatedly tried to prevent the extradition, but a federal judge’s ruling in February cleared the way for him to be sent to Japan. He was arrested on March 4 while on a flight from the United States to Japan, according to the Chiba Prefectural Police.
Japanese authorities said Dr. Kanayama had left oil on pillars at the main entrance of the Naritasan Shinsho-ji Temple in the city of Narita. A temple official said the oil had left blackish stains. At the nearby Katori Jingu Shrine, in Katori, a shrine official said oily liquid had been left on wooden poles, stairs and a box for donations, leaving stains that had become almost invisible unless they were observed up close.
Japanese authorities said they had used surveillance footage from the religious sites, as well as car rental and flight records, to trace the incidents to Dr. Kanayama. The authorities also referred to YouTube videos from 2012 that showed a man who they said was Dr. Kanayama talking about anointing shrines with oil for religious purposes.
His lawyers have argued that Japan had targeted Dr. Kanayama in part because he was a Christian. The Japanese consulate in New York said in November that the extradition request was “a matter of law enforcement and is in no way motivated by political or religious considerations.”
Benjamin Weiser and Michael Levenson contributed reporting.
