7-year-old Japanese boy, who was left in the forest as punishment, pardons his father

Tokyo: The father of a seven-year-old Japanese boy found alive nearly a week after his parents left him in a dense forest as punishment said his son has forgiven him, as details emerged of the boy’s ordeal.

Japan has been mesmerised by young Yamato Tanooka, who survived six nights alone after his angry parents abandoned him by the side of a mountain road on the northern island of Hokkaido on May 28.

Searchers, including soldiers, spent days scouring the mountainous forest which is home to brown bears, but could find no clues to the missing boy.

He was discovered Friday morning sheltering in a hut on a military drill field some 5.5 kilometres from where he had been left.

Takayuki Tanooka, his 44-year-old father, has said he, his wife and daughter returned several minutes later to the spot where Yamato was forced out of the family car, but there was no sign of him.