Highly strung: woman held in Japan over claim she wrecked ex's 54 violins

TOKYO: A woman has been arrested in Japan on suspicion of destroying 54 violins and 70 bows worth around $950,000 that were owned by her ex-husband, police and media said Wednesday.

The 34-year-old was arrested Tuesday for allegedly breaking into a man's home and wrecking the instruments, with reports that the violins had been made or collected by her 62-year-old former partner. The collection included an Italian-made instrument worth 50 million yen ($445,000), according to Jiji Press.

"The total financial damage claimed by the victim is 105.9 million yen," a police spokesman from the central prefecture of Aichi, where the crime allegedly took place, told AFP.

"She is suspected of entering the home by breaking a window sometime between January 30 and February 19 in 2014," he said.

At the time of the incident, the couple were reportedly in the middle of a divorce, which was completed last year. The woman, identified as Tokyo resident Midori Kawamiya, travelled to China several times after the incident and was arrested upon her return to the Japanese capital, the tabloid Nikkan Sports said. The outlet reported that she was a Chinese national.