A six-day search for a missing boy in a remote part of northern Japan has ended happily when he turned up hungry and shaken up, but alive.
The case sparked national and worldwide interest after the boy’s parents admitted briefly abandoning him in a forest last Saturday evening as a “punishment”.
Police said the father of Yamato Tanooka (7) initially told them he had strayed off while the family looked for wild mountain vegetables near the town of Nanae in Hokkaido.
The parents later admitted that as dusk approached, they had driven off for about 500 metres after scolding him for throwing stones. When they returned, a few minutes later, they said, he had disappeared.
Yamato reportedly wandered off and took shelter from the rain in a hut at a military training facility less than 4km from where his parents left him.
Media reports say he was found by a soldier, curled up on a mattress on the floor of the hut but unharmed and still wearing the same black T-shirt, sweatpants and red sneakers he had on at the time of his disappearance.
He was stretchered to hospital via helicopter, conscious but complaining of hunger. Doctors said that apart from mild hypothermia and dehydration, he was unharmed and would make a full recovery.
Self-Defence Force troops at the facility expressed amazement at the boy’s resilience.
His father, Takayuki Tanooka (44) (right), told Japanese television he had “never imagined” the outcome of the parents’ action and he “regretted” his behaviour.
“It was extreme and I caused my son a lot of pain,” he said. “I deeply apologise to everyone, including the school teachers who worked so hard in the search for my son.”
Hundreds of police, troops and local people had been looking for the boy. With many fearing the worst, police announced on Thursday that the search would be scaled down.
The case sparked an angry reaction in Japan, with media pundits and bloggers bitterly criticising the parents, who left their son in a heavily wooded area with no food or water.
Temperatures in Hokkaido drop sharply at night and it is home to wild animals, including snakes and bears. Japanese news outlets say police are considering charges of child abuse against the parents.
Mr Tanooka had said during the week that he had only wanted to shake up his son, who had been throwing rocks at cars and refusing to obey his guidance.
“I wanted to discipline him, so made him get out of the car to scare him a bit,” the boy’s father, Takayuki Tanooka, said. “He’s an active, lively boy, but I’m worried how he’s doing.”
The parents said they had initially delayed reporting their missing son because they feared being accused of child abuse, then lied about the reason for his disappearance because they were “embarrassed” at what they had done.
