A national natural area in Hawaii is in the middle of a controversy. Recently, the authorities announced detaining 14 persons for entering the stairs located in Haiku, on the island of Oahu.

These 4,000 metal steps, constructed by the US Navy during the Second World War and almost immediately abandoned, are unexpected but breathtakingly beautiful. They are in a somewhat hard-to-reach part of Kaneohe, accessible only by unsafe climbing.

In the statement, Jason Redulla, chief of Hawaii’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE), said it’s incredibly disrespectful and self-serving for anyone to be on the Haiku Stairs or on the Middle Ridge Trail when it’s been made abundantly clear that these areas are off-limits for safety and natural resource protection reasons.

DOCARE said all those arrested during the past week were charged with criminal trespassing, a misdemeanour punishable by up to 30 days in jail. The status of eight of the fourteen, whether they were hiking together when they were arrested on September 3, is unknown.

“People should be very cautious when entering the work area and trying to go down the slope. They have to think of the consequences in case anybody gets injured or, worse, needs rescue. First responders may find it difficult to reach there; this could delay the medical attention, said Redulla.

The Haiku Stairs-better known as the “stairway to heaven”-are technically closed to the public, thanks to a 1987 agreement. Social media would seem to give this weird site some fame. Fearless Instagrammers and YouTubers have been raving about the breathtaking views from the top of the 2,800-foot mountain path, and the stairs sometimes appear to disappear into the mist at the top.

DOCARE claims the hikers entered the stairs via climbing ropes.

The stairs’ popularity has caused issues for the community around them: trespassers, ramped-up security costs, and dangerous rescue operations in the mainly remote area of hikers.

In 2021, the Honolulu City Council voted to dismantle the Haiku Stairs. The steps have been removed piecemeal, with each section dislodged from the mountainside before being airlifted out via helicopter.

Friends of the Haiku Steps, a local organization, said removing the steps would be too costly, at $2.5 million.

Some demolition work was completed when the Hawaii Court of Appeals granted a temporary injunction earlier this year.

Austrian man Detained for having sex in Japanese shrine.

According to local police, a 61-year-old Austrian man was arrested last month for having sexual relations with a 40-year-old Japanese woman in a shrine in Japan.

The two were accused of desecrating a house of worship after they were caught having sexual relations on August 22 within the precincts of a shrine in Kesennuma, a small coastal town about 500 kilometres north of Tokyo.

Because they believed he would be a flight risk, police detained the male but did not think there was little chance the lady would get away and did not detain her, according to CNN. The person taken into prison was released later; however, the police did not mention what sentence the man got or whether he was a local or a visitor. Police added that these cases are punishable by a fine, but it doesn’t mean forced repatriation.

There have been other incidents where individuals are imprisoned for desecrating Japanese temples, although quite rare.

A 17-year-old Canadian was reportedly taken in for questioning last year after he allegedly used his nail to etch the name “Julian” into a wooden pillar at a temple in the historic city of Nara that UNESCO classified. Local police alerted CNN to this. A police officer quoted the boy, “admitted his act and says it was done not with the intent to harm Japanese culture.” “His parents were with him when the incident happened, and they are with him now.”

But when world-renowned photographer Kishin Shinoyama was accused of taking nude pictures in a public cemetery in 2010, he faced charges of public obscenity and disrespect for a place of worship.