The search continued Monday for a 7-year-old boy after his parents admitted to leaving him in the mountains as punishment and that he did not get lost during a hike as they first claimed, police said.
About 130 rescuers and police officers searched for a third day in mountains in Nanae, Hokkaido, after Yamato Tano-oka went missing Saturday, a police spokesman said.
His parents originally told the police that he got lost while the family was walking in the area to pick wild vegetables.
The boy’s 44-year-old father, Takayuki Tano-oka, eventually told the police they left the boy in the mountains on the way home from a park after scolding him for throwing stones at cars on a nearby road.
“The parents left the boy in the mountains as punishment,” the police spokesman said. “They said they went back to the site immediately, but the boy was no longer there.”
The father told a TV Asahi reporter that he when he initially asked the police to search for the boy, he could not bring himself to tell them what really happened.
The boy was wearing navy shorts, a black pullover and red sneakers, the police said.
They are investigating whether the parents should be charged with abandoning their child.
Members of the public reacted with outrage on social media.
“This is not punishment but abuse!” one Twitter post read.
“The parents are so stupid that I am speechless,” said another.
Many also expressed worry about the fate of the child in the forest alone, apparently with no food or water, as heavy rain hit the area overnight.
Mitsuru Wakayama, a spokesman for the nearby town of Nanae, said local residents pass through the mountainous area only occasionally, when they use it as a shortcut.
“Not many people or cars pass by, and it gets totally dark as there are no lights,” Wakayama said. “It’s not surprising to encounter bears anywhere in the area.”