7-year-old Yamato Tanooka was found alive, exhausted but uninjured, early Friday morning in a remote cabin in the mountains of Hokkaido, Japan-nearly a full week after being left by his parents on the side of the road.
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Japanese rescuers believe they have found Yamato Tanooka, who went missing in woods in northern Hokkaido after being left by his parents.
Yamato was found by a soldier on a parade ground at a military barracks.
The child was left alone for a few minutes by his parents who discovered that he was missing after they returned to look for him in the woods – which is home to many brown bears.
Speaking outside the hospital where his son was taken, father Takayuki Tanooka said: “The first thing I did was apologise to him for causing such an bad memory for him”.
The boy apparently walked for several kilometers and found the the empty longhouse-style hut in a military drill area.
The boy suffered some dehydration and was getting an intravenous drip, but besides some minor scratches on his arms and feet, no serious risks to his health were found, a doctor who had examined him told Kyodo News.
According to The Japan Times, Yamato’s father Takayuki Tanooka said in a press conference he was “overcome with emotion” and that he’d apologized to his son immediately upon reunion.
He said that upon their reunion at a hospital in Hakodate city, he conveyed his feelings to his son, also apologizing to the public for his “excessive behavior”. “I really didn’t think it would come to that”. The search for the boy required the help of 180 police officers, soldiers and volunteers who scoured the forest for seven days.
The boy had reportedly been without food or water. He kept warm, he said, by sleeping between mattresses in the hut.
The boy’s disappearance and the debate set off by the parents’ decision resonated in an aging nation with a dearth of children, where child-raising is expensive and often requires financial sacrifice.
The hospital says Yamato has some light injuries and has only taken in water over the last week.
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