The father of a 2-year-old boy and his girlfriend have been arrested for child abuse after he posted a video on Facebook that showed him forcing the boy to inhale directly from a cigarette.
Police on Monday arrested the boy's father, Shun Habuchi, 24, reportedly from Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, and his 16-year-old girlfriend for forcing the child to smoke on Nov. 11.
The name of the girlfriend, who described herself as a Nagoya resident, has been withheld because she is a minor.
In a nearly minute-long video presumably shot in an apartment in Nagoya where they live, Habuchi's son is shown reacting with mild disgust when he was forced to inhale the cigarette smoke. It appeared that two people were taking turns forcing him to smoke.
The video was viewed by more than 5,000 Internet users before it was deleted from Habuchi's account.
"About that video, I really apologize for that, I'm sorry for this prank, I really feel bad about it," Habuchi said in a message posted on his Facebook account the following day.
"I really regret it," he added, asking Facebook users not to blame the act on his girlfriend, to whom he said he was engaged, and not report it to the police.