Japanese boy left in forest says he forgives his father

The seven-year-old boy who survived for six nights in a forest in northern Japan has forgiven his father for putting him through the ordeal, describing him as a “good dad”.

Yamato Tanooka was found alive and well in a military hut on Friday morning, almost a week after his parents ordered him out of the car as punishment for throwing stones during a family trip to the forest in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. He had spent six nights in the hut and survived by drinking water from a tap outside and sleeping between two mattresses to keep warm.

Yamato, who was not seriously hurt, is expected to be discharged from hospital soon. His parents, meanwhile, face possible legal action over suspected psychological abuse, Japanese media reported. Takayuki Tanooka (44) said he had again apologised to his son for his actions, which attracted widespread criticism on social media.

"I said to him, 'Dad made you go though such a hard time. I am sorry'," Mr Tanooka said in an interview with TBS. "And then my son said, 'You are a good dad, I forgive you'," he added, struggling to hold back tears. The Sankei Shimbun quoted Yamato as saying: "I was wrong because I didn't listen to what my dad was saying."

Yamato tried to chase after his parents and sister immediately after being abandoned in the forest on the evening of May 28th, it has emerged. Upset, he lost his sense of direction and started walking away from the car, the Mainichi Shimbun said.

His ordeal ended when three soldiers, seeking shelter from the rain, opened the door to a military hut to find him curled up on a mattress. It has also emerged that police are considering legal action against Yamato's parents for possible psychological abuse. Police in Hokkaido have submitted written notification about possible abuse to a child welfare centre in the nearby city of Hakodate city, the Asahi Shimbun said.

His parents faced an avalanche of online criticism for their actions, although some sympathised with their predicament. Tanooka said he had already grown angry with his son because he had been in trouble at school for hitting cars with a stick. “So I tried to show him that I can be scary when I’m seriously angry,” he said, citing what he described as a “father’s dignity”.

The Kyodo news agency quoted sources familiar with the case as saying that Tanooka had cried so much after his parents left him at the side of the road in a bear-inhabited area of the forest that he lost his sense of direction.The extraordinary survival of the boy left in a Japanese forest

Dressed in a tracksuit, T-shirt and trainers, he set off in the opposite direction in which his parents’ car had been travelling, before coming across an unpaved road that eventually took him to the military hut about 6km away.

Yamato reportedly saw no one during the time he spent inside the unheated hut. By the time he was found, he was suffering from mild dehydration and had lost 2kg, according to Japanese media. He reportedly told his father that he couldn’t remember how he had got to the hut, but said he had managed to overcome his fear of being alone and get some sleep.

More details have emerged of the obstacles he would have encountered on his journey to the hut, which, he did not realise at the time, was just a mile away from a private house.

Walking along the narrow mountain roads would have extended the distance he covered to about six miles, the Mainichi Shimbun quoted a self-defence force (SDF) soldier as saying. "They are mountain roads that go up and down . . . even a member of the SDF would take about two and half hours to get to the military exercise area."

His route, in pitch darkness, would have taken him through a maze of interconnected and unpaved roads lined by thick bushes and tall trees, making it impossible for him to get his bearings. “He probably avoided side roads and chose the wider roads, leading him to the facility where he was found,” the soldier added.

Yamato reportedly said he had tried to turn on the lights inside the hut, but found there was no power supply. Emergency services, meanwhile, defended the scope of their search, which after six days had uncovered no clues as to his whereabouts.

Police said they had expanded the search to include Mount Komagatake after Yamato’s sister said she had seen him walk off in that direction, but had not checked the nearby military training area. “We searched places where we thought a child would be likely to go,” Kyodo quoted a senior police officer as saying.

The search, involving up to 180 people, had initially covered a radius of two miles from the spot where Yamato was told to get out of the car, but was later expanded to a 10-mile radius. “Considering the physical strength and mindset of a child, we didn’t think he would head to the mountaintops or off the main road,” a firefighter told Kyodo.

There is still no satisfactory explanation for why Yamato was not discovered when soldiers on a regular patrol checked the hut last Monday morning but found nothing out of the ordinary. – (Guardian service)