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Parents Leave Japanese Boy In Bear-Ridden Forest
They’d meant to teach him a lesson by leaving him behind for a few moments, but when the parents of Yamato Tanooka came back to get him, he'd gone.
After misbehaving last Saturday, his parents made the seven-year-old boy get out of the family car during their drive through the most northerly island of Hokkaido.
He was eventually discovered in a military hut by soldiers on patrol, having disappeared into the forest after not realising his parents were about to circle back.
A week-long manhunt was launched and despite pulling in 180 people and search dogs, it failed to locate him.
The episode has generated huge soul-searching about how the society raises and disciplines its children.
Abandonment and child abuse are allegedly far more common than the stereotype of the doting parent and stay-at-home mother would suggest.
Takayuki Tanooka, the boy’s father, has said
"We have raised him with love all along… I really didn't think it would come to that. We went too far."
Yamato had been missing for nearly a week when he was discovered in the military hut.
Japanese soldiers during a training exercise
The building had no heat or power and no food, but Yamato huddled between mattresses on the floor and drank water from a tap outside.
Military officials expressed admiration for the boy's perseverance, as the hut where he was found was far from where he had disappeared and involved a rigorous uphill climb.
Asked what he had told his son after he was found, Mr Tanooka said: "I told him I was so sorry for causing him such pain."
Yamato's parents are not officially under any police investigation for their actions.
Cover image courtesy of Mr. Hicks46.
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