A video showing a woman forcibly pushing a child's face into a birthday cake has spread across social media, stirring controversy over child abuse.
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, a video circulating widely on Japanese social media shows a woman pressing the back of a child's head with both hands, burying the child's face in a cream cake, purportedly as a birthday celebration.
The child in the video was not physically injured but burst into tears immediately after lifting their face from the cake.
Japanese internet users who saw the clip criticized the woman, with comments including "I feel so sorry for the child" and "This is clearly child abuse."
It has since emerged that the child has been under temporary protective custody at a child welfare facility in Fukuoka Prefecture since early this month. The facility has been flooded with phone calls and emails demanding that the woman in the video be prosecuted on child abuse charges.
Whether the woman in the video is the child's mother has not yet been confirmed, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.
Meanwhile, dozens of reports have also been filed with the local police precinct. Police reviewed the footage and are working to identify the person who posted it and investigate the facts of the case.
choigo@heraldcorp.com
