A Japanese boy who was found after being lost in a bear-inhabited forest for six days when his parents tried to discipline him has been rushed to hospital. Yamato Tanooka, seven, had been missing since Saturday, when his parents made him get out of their car as punishment for misbehaving, leaving him behind in a wooded area on Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island (You can read the story here). On Friday he was found alive at an old Self-Defense Forces training facility in the town of Shikabe, Hokkaido, about five kilometres from where he disappeared.
He was taken to Hakodate Hospital by helicopter suffering from exhaustion, after five days without food or water. Here he was reunited with his parents. The boy told the police that he walked to the SDF facility on his own through the mountains, investigators said
'The boy was found alive, but we don't have information on details of his condition,' Satoshi Saito, a rescuer, told AFP earlier on Friday.
Saito said the boy identified himself as Yamato Tanooka.
The boy's father Takayuki Tanooka earlier said: 'We have done an unforgivable thing to our child and we have caused a lot of trouble for everyone. I just hope he is safe.'
More than 180 rescuers, including soldiers, were scouring the Higashionuma area where the parents said they dropped the boy off. The boy's mysterious disappearance had captured international attention, with many praying for his safe return. Many people bitterly criticised the parents, triggering a debate over whether their treatment of the boy was discipline or child abuse.
Police said they are considering whether the parents should be charged with child abandonment.
'Making children obey by giving them fear or pain is bad parenting, it's abuse,' Naoki Ogi, a professor of education at Hosei University, said in his blog. Yamato was last seen wearing a T-shirt and jeans in an area where the overnight temperatures can fall as low as 7C (45F).
Thank God
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