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.

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.