A 47-year-old provincial politician was fast becoming an internet sensation yesterday after crying as he tried to defend his dubious spending of public funds.

Footage from a press conference in which Ryutaro Nonomura shouts incoherent excuses in between gut-wrenching sobs has been carried on television chat shows across Japan.

His news conference on Tuesday followed a Kobe Shimbun newspaper report that raised questions about Nonomura's visiting a hot springs resort 106 times last year, with the alleged use of public money totalling €25,000.

During the three-hour press conference in Kobe he cried while saying: "I finally became an assembly member … with the sole purpose of changing society … This Japan … I want to change this society … I have staked my life … Don't you understand?"

One YouTube posting has been viewed more than over 2 million times so far.