Anti-Korean stickers have been posted at three more restrooms along the 88-temple pilgrimage course known as Shikoku Henro in Shikoku, the stations' managers said Thursday.
Like previous messages, the latest — found in the city of Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, and two more cities in Tokushima — call on hikers to "protect our precious pilgrimage route from Korean hands," they said.
The Tokushima Prefectural Government and police have launched an investigation. Kagawa Prefecture, of which Takamatsu is the capital, is also considering a response, its officials said.
A 71-year-old manager of the rest station in Takamatsu said he found one of the stickers on March 28 when he came in to clean in the morning, adding the sticker had not been there the previous day.
"The discriminatory message made me furious," he said. "It was posted along the path to the elementary school, and I peeled it off right then and there."
On Wednesday, four more stickers were found and peeled off at a rest station in the city of Tokushima in front of the Awa Dance Hall, while two more were seen in Naruto, also in Tokushima.