A cultural heritage worker accidentally crashed his car into Japan's oldest bathroom and ruined the doors

• A Japanese cultural heritage worker smashed his car into an ancient bathroom on Monday.
• The man accidentally stepped on the gas while his car was in reverse, per Japanese news reports.

A Japanese cultural heritage worker had a terrible start to the week when he accidentally crashed his car into a treasured bathroom he was supposed to help preserve.

The unnamed 30-year-old man was on a work trip to the Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto at 9:30 a.m. on Monday. He is a staff member at the Kyoto Association for the Preservation of Ancient Cultures, the Sankei Shimbun, a local newspaper, reported.

While on the temple grounds, the man put his car in reverse before accidentally stepping on the accelerator, reported the Sankei Shimbun, citing a Japanese police source. The car then rammed through the doors of the Tofukuji Temple's ancient communal loo.

While the row of latrines within the wooden structure was undamaged, the temple toilet's doors and pillars were smashed in, reported the Sankei Shimbun. No one was injured.

The heritage worker later reported the accident to the police himself, the outlet reported.

Tofukuji Temple's bathroom was built at least 500 years ago during Japan's Muromachi period and is the country's oldest existing communal loo. Inside the temple outhouse is a row of holes around 11 inches deep, an example of the spartan restroom facilities used at the time.

The temple's latrine was dubbed the "hundred-person toilet" because it was used by more than 100 trainee monks, The Asahi Shimbun reported, citing Kyoto Prefecture's cultural properties protection division.

The wooden building that the toilet is in was designated by the Japanese government as an important cultural site, per The Asahi Shimbun.

Fortunately for the unnamed man, the doors can be fixed.

"We are relieved that the damage is reparable," Keishu Nagai, head of the temple's management office, told The Asahi Shimbun. "We'd like to somehow restore it to its original state."

On Tuesday, the Kyoto Association for the Preservation of Ancient Cultures issued an apology on its website for its employee's driving foul-up.

"We sincerely apologize for causing an accident involving a vehicle that damaged an important cultural property by an employee of our association," read the association's statement. "We deeply apologize for the great inconvenience caused to Tofukuji Temple and everyone involved."

The association added that it will take measures to educate employees on safe driving measures. The organization did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on whether the man was fired.