The 7-year-old Japanese boy who went missing nearly a week ago after his parents left him in a forest as punishment was found unharmed Friday morning by a soldier in the... (Associated Press) 
 
 TOKYO (AP) — The 7-year-old Japanese boy who went missing nearly a week ago after his parents left him in a forest as punishment was found unharmed Friday in an army training ground hut, police said, in a case that had set off a nationwide debate about parental disciplining. “I didn’t have food so I just drank water,” police quoted him saying. The parents originally told police their son had got lost while they were out hiking to gather wild vegetables but later said they were angry and tried to punish him because he had thrown stones at cars and people. After being reunited with Yamato, father Takayuki Tanooka, told reporters outside the hospital in the city of Hakodate: “The first thing I did was apologise to him for causing such an awful memory for him. Asked what he had told his son, the boy's father, blinking back tears, said, "I told him I was so sorry for causing him such pain." He nodded and said OK, like he understood.” 
 
 From now on we’ll do even more to love him Takayuki Tanooka, Yamato's father 
 
 Tanooka, 44, then apologised to his son’s school, the search teams and everyone who had supported the family through the weeklong search. “Really, thank you very much.” 
 
 The extraordinary survival of the boy left in a Japanese forest Read more 
 
 Tanooka conceded he had “gone too far” when he ordered his son out of the car in the forest last Saturday evening. “Our behaviour as parents went too far, and that’s something I’m extremely regretful about. I thought that what I was doing was for his own good, but, yes, I realise now that I went too far.” 
 
 News agency Kyodo said the boy was found at about 7.50am on Friday by military personnel in a building on an exercise area in the town of Shikabe in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. Police deployed a helicopter on Monday, while firefighters rode horses along forest paths as they shouted the boy’s name. The soldiers gave him rice balls and bread when he said he was hungry and thirsty. The parents reportedly told police they had punished the boy for throwing rocks at people and cars while playing at a river earlier in the day. Nippon TV said there was a tap outside the hut. Facebook Twitter Pinterest The area on the island of Hokkaido where seven-year-old boy Yamato Tanooka went missing on Saturday. The school’s principal and Yamato’s class teacher headed to the hospital to visit Yamato. More than 180 rescuers had been searching for Yamato, with the military joining the search on Wednesday.
– Great news from Japan: After days where a grim outcome seemed increasingly likely, the boy abandoned in a forest by his parents has been found alive and physically unharmed. On Friday, soldiers found 7-year-old Yamato Tanooka in a hut at a military drill area a few miles away from where his parents had left him by the side of a forest road as punishment, the Japan Times reports. Soldiers say he was curled up on a mattress when they found him and they gave him rice balls and bread when he told them he was hungry and thirsty, the Guardian reports. He was taken to a hospital by military helicopter and was treated for dehydration and possible hypothermia. Doctors say the boy, who had been on his own since Saturday, was unharmed apart from scratches on his arms and legs. Yamato's parents told authorities that they returned five minutes after leaving the boy and found him gone. At least 180 rescuers joined the search, combing woods on the northern island of Hokkaido, which are home to a species of brown bear. It's not clear how long the boy had been in the unheated hut during a week when overnight temperatures dropped as low as 44 degrees Fahrenheit. Police say he told his rescuers he hadn't eaten but had found water to drink. Yamato's father, Takayuki Tanooka, visited his son and apologized, the AP reports. "I told him I was so sorry for causing him such pain," the father told reporters outside the hospital. He said the boy has been "raised with love," and while the punishment for throwing rocks was supposed to be for Yamato's own good, he realizes that he went too far.