Military joins search for missing Japanese boy left in forest as punishment

Members of Japan's Self-Defense Forces have joined the rescue team searching for Yamato Tanooka, the 7-year-old boy who was abandoned in a forest by his parents as punishment.

The 75 soldiers joined a group of 130 police, firefighters, rescue personnel and volunteers already searching for the boy. 

Despite the added members of the search team, though, there's been no sign of the young boy. A spokesman for the SDF told CNN, "We still have no clue. We just do not know where he went. Our fatigue level is peaking now. But we will continue to search for the boy."

Yamato went missing in a Hokkaido forest in northern Japan on Saturday evening after his parents forced him out of the car and drove off because he was misbehaving. 

According to the Japan Times, Yamato's parents initially told police that Yamato had gotten lost while the family was picking wild vegetables but later recanted and admitted to leaving him behind as punishment for throwing rocks at people and cars. 

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When Takayuki Tanooka, Yamato's father, returned to the spot where they left him a few minutes later to retrieve him, he was nowhere to be found.

Tanooka told reporters, "We have done an unforgivable thing to our child, and we have caused a lot of trouble for everyone. I just hope he is safe."

The area is reportedly known for bears and Yamato had no food or water with him when his parents left him, according to the Japan Times.

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