Takayuki Tanooka, father
of Yamato Tanooka, a seven-year-old boy missing since being abandoned in
a bear-inhabited forest in northern Japan, speaks to reporters in
Hakodate on June 3, 2016. (JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images)
Yamato Tanooka, the Japanese boy who had been missing for
almost a week after he was left in a forest by has parents as
punishment, was found on June 3.
A soldier discovered Yamato, 7, at a military hut. The boy did not
shed a tear after being found and was given two rice balls by the
soldier, which he ate ravenously.
A doctor who examined Yamato said the boy was dehydrated and had
minor scratches on his arms and feet, but no serious health risks were
found.
His disappearance triggered a massive manhunt that included 180 people and search dogs.
Meanwhile, around the country, people soul-searched on how they raise and discipline children.
A house
in a military exercise area where missing boy Yamato Tanooka was found
by Self-Defense Forces personnel in the town of Shikabe in Hokkaido on
June 3, 2016.
(STR/AFP/Getty Images)
(STR/AFP/Getty Images)
The boy was left by his parents as a form of teaching him a lesson
for misbehaving and throwing rocks. They made him get out of the vehicle
on May 28 on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido in a forest,
which is supposedly filled with bears. When they returned a few minutes
later, they could not find Yamato.
The boy apparently walked for several kilometers and found the the
empty longhouse-style hut in a military drill area. He entered the
facility through a door that had been left open. The hut had no heat,
power, or food, but the boy took shelter in between mattresses on the
floor and drank water from a faucet outside the hut for days, according
to local media.
The
media and members of the Self-Defence Forces stand near the building
where the 7-year-old Japanese boy, who went missing nearly a week ago,
was found, in a military drill area in Shikabe, on the northernmost main
island of Hokkaido Friday, June 3, 2016. (Takaki Yajima/Kyodo News via
AP)
The soldier who found the boy had not been part of the search operation, but the boy had identified himself.
After he was discovered, Yamato was transferred to a hospital by
helicopter. Outside of the medical facility, the father of the boy
apologized. Bowing his head, the father, Takayuki Tanooka, thanked
everyone who helped with the search and promised to do a better job as
the boy’s father.
Takayuki
Tanooka, father of the 7-year-old Japanese boy who went missing nearly a
week ago, bows in front of media after his son was found, in Hakodate,
Hokkaido Friday, June 3, 2016. The boy, missing since Saturday, was
found unharmed Friday, police said, in a case that had set off a
nationwide debate about parental disciplining. (Daisuke Suzuki/Kyodo
News via AP)
“We have raised him with love all along,” said the father, fighting tears.
“I really didn’t think it would come to that. We went too far,” he added.
When asked what he had told his son after he was found, the father said, “I told him I was so sorry for causing him such pain.”
An
image of Yamato Tanooka, the missing 7-year-old Japanese boy, is
displayed by Japanese newspaper Yukan Fuji being sold at a railway
station kiosk in Tokyo, Friday, June 3, 2016. Tanooka, who went missing
nearly a week ago after his parents left him in a forest as punishment,
was found Friday in a case that set off a nationwide debate about
parental disciplining. Headline reads: “Taken into protective custody
six days after being abandoned.” (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Military officials praised the boy for his perseverance. The building
where he was found was far from where he had disappeared, and involved a
challenging uphill climb. Japan welcomed the boy’s safe return, as
pictures of Yamato were distributed continuously through the media.
Rescuers
celebrate after a news that a missing boy was found, in Nanae town, on
Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands Friday, June 3,
2016. (Daisuke Suzuki/Kyodo News via AP)
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