Copper plates are stolen from the roofs of multiple shrines in the city of Himi in Toyama Prefecture as the metal’s price has been surging in recent years.

NNN Reporter / The copper plates on the shrine roof have been completely stripped off, and fragments are scattered around.

A local resident found on January 5 that copper plates covering the roof of this shrine in the city of Himi in Toyama Prefecture had been stolen and reported it to the police.

Neighbor who found the damage / I never imagined this much damage. We’ll have to do some kind of temporary repairs at least on the area where the deity is housed, so it doesn’t get wet in the rain.

About 2,000 copper plates were taken from the roof, with damage estimated at roughly 1 million yen.

Because this shrine is maintained by local residents, the repair costs will have to be covered by six households.

Neighbor who found the damage / Repairs would cost millions of yen, so we can’t afford it. Because copper is so expensive now, that seems to be the only possible motive.

In other parts of Himi, copper plates have been stolen from at least two other shrines.

The average domestic trading price of copper in January was 2.13 million yen per ton, about three times what it was six years ago.

Prices have surged in recent years due to rising demand for solar power equipment and electric vehicle motors.

The police are investigating the incidents as theft cases with the intent of reselling the copper.