Abandoned Japanese boy leaves hospital smiling after forest ordeal
A seven-year-old boy who survived for days in a bear-infested forest after his parents left him there as punishment, has left hospital smiling and waving.
Yamamoto Tanooka was left by the side of the road as a punishment for throwing stones at cars and when his parents returned, the boy had vanished.
Yamamoto Tanooka survived for six days in Japan's bear-infested woods. Photo: Reuters
The 10-day drama captivated Japan and despite widespread public anger at the parents' actions police have said the parents would not face charges for abandoning their son.
Yamato was cheerful when he walked out of the Hakodate Municipal Hospital on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Wearing a black cap and holding on to a baseball crafted out of paper with written messages of support, the little boy smiled and and waved at journalists.
The cheerful little boy smiled and and waved at journalists upon departing the hospital.Photo: Reuters
Asked by a journalist what he wanted to do, he shouted, "Baseball!" Queried about returning to school, he replied enthusiastically, "I want to go!"
After a few minutes, which included applause, his father ushered him into a van and they drove off.
The boy survived for six nights alone after his parents left him on a mountain road on May 28 in bear-infested woods.
The father said they went back five minutes later to retrieve him but their son was nowhere to be seen.
'I walked alone'
Yamato said he "walked alone and met no one." Photo: AFP
About 150 people including rescue workers and soldiers spent days scouring the mountainous forest after Yamato went missing.
He was finally discovered last Friday by a soldier, sheltering in a hut on a military drill field around five kilometres from where he was abandoned.
Yamato kept himself warm there during the chilly northern nights by sleeping between two mattresses and drank water from an outside tap, though he had nothing solid to eat.
Police questioned him for about an hour in hospital on Monday accompanied by his mother and doctors, the Tokyo Shimbun reported.
He was quoted by the daily as telling police: "I walked alone and met no one", adding that he sometimes stopped to rest and arrived at the hut in the dark.
His father, 44-year-old Takayuki Tanooka, said that he apologised to his son and that the boy had forgiven him.
"I said to him, 'Dad made you go though such a hard time. I am sorry'," the elder Tanooka told broadcaster TBS in footage aired Monday.
"And then, my son said, 'You are a good dad. I forgive you'," Tanooka added, choking up.
Yamato's father, Takayuki Tanooka, apologised to his son in front of journalists in Japan. Photo: AFP
The case sparked debate in Japan about parental discipline, with some calling for understanding of their frustration though most condemned their excessive response.
And though some have called for them to be prosecuted, police said they will not face charges, according to a local officer.
"We plan not to regard it as a criminal case," a Hokkaido police spokesman told AFP, indicating it would be referred to social services.
Toru Numata, a lawyer who handles abuse and domestic violence cases, told AFP: "Considering the factors behind the case, the chances of making it a prosecutable one are extremely slim."
Numata said the focus was likely to shift to the boy's mental health, and on possible trauma from the ordeal.
