An attorney representing four Japanese nationals who allegedly took $1,000 worth of amulets Feb. 16 from a Shinto shrine in Kalihi said Friday that they made a donation in Japan to transfer to the Hawaii shrine.
Attorney Naomi Cole said her clients felt they didn’t leave enough donations behind at Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu and later donated 100,000 yen (about $1,000) to the Kotohira-gu Shrine, describing it as the parent organization of the Kalihi shrine.
Kalihi shrine board President Shinken Naitoh said the Kalihi shrine is an independent, nonprofit organization that has no legal affiliation with the Kotohira-gu Shrine in Japan. "Just because they made a donation to the shrine in Japan does not erase the wrongdoing," he said.
During the latter part of April, the shrine in Japan sent a $1,000 donation the Kalihi shrine received from an unidentified man. A man’s name was on the envelope with the donation. Board member Irene Takizawa declined to disclose the name.
The Kalihi shrine posted a video in March of the individuals taking the amulets, but YouTube removed the video Thursday because of a privacy guideline. Naitoh said the video posting was not intended to harm or hurt anyone.
Cole said the group left $100 at the Kalihi shrine for about 100 amulets. Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha officials contend the Japanese nationals took advantage of their honor system and left $6 for 150 amulets. The shrine requests a $7 minimum donation for each omamori.
After the group returned to Japan, Cole said her clients felt they didn’t leave enough money at the Kalihi shrine and wanted to donate more. It’s not known why the individuals felt that way.
They called the Kalihi shrine, but an individual who received the call didn’t understand Japanese. Takizawa added the shrine didn’t receive a phone call as Cole described. The group then gave the money to the shrine in Japan to transfer to the Kalihi shrine.
The donation to the Japanese shrine was made sometime in March, but the exact date of the donation is not known, said Cole.
Cole said the group became aware of the YouTube video last week and contacted Cole for assistance. "My clients are the ones who are victims here," she said, adding the video depicted them as thieves despite the $1,000 donation made. Posting the video was a form of harassment in an attempt to ruin their reputation, she said.
Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha posted the video on YouTube on March 7, nearly three weeks after security video cameras captured the Japanese nationals stuffing amulets into their bags.
Cole noted they did not attempt to sell the omamori online, although local shrine officials said they saw the amulets being sold on the Internet.
