A 31-year-old plumber in Ibaraki Prefecture was arrested on Sunday for letting a child sitting on his lap drive a car.
Police had been investigating the case because the man, Shinichi Otsuka, uploaded a video on the internet showing the child taking the wheel. The police did not disclose the relationship between Otsuka and the child because it would help identify the minor.
The suspect allegedly had the child driving on a street in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture, while sitting on his lap at around 3:15 p.m. on June 6. The child does not have a driver's license. Otsuka admitted that the man in the video was him, but denied the alleged law violation, saying, "I didn't know that it (the act) means I had him driving without a license."
During the 40-second video, an adult man in the driver's seat apparently had the child sit on his lap and hold the steering wheel, telling him to signal.