A Japanese student's scrawling in an Italian church. [File photo]

Japan: A maximum 5-year jail term

Scrawling used to be a cultural tradition in Japan and the Angkor Wat site in Cambodia has many examples from ancient Japanese. However, under the current law in Japan, scrawling on protected cultural relics can result in a prison sentence of less than five years or a penalty of less than 300,000 Japanese yen (over $2,500).

In 2008, a Japanese student scrawled his name on a church in Florence, Italy and was suspended from his school as soon as he got back home. The school principal apologized in public through the media.