Lost 7yo Yamato Tanooka Found After Media Shitstorm

Almost a week after disappearing in a heavily wooded area of Hokkaido on Japan’s northernmost main island, 7-year-old Yamato Tanooka has been found alive.�

He was discovered by a soldier early this morning in a military training facility about five kilometres from where the boy was last seen. Amazingly, the soldier was not a part of the massive search and rescue operation to find the boy, but was instead unlocking the facility for some military drills.

Despite spending six days lost in the forest, including five days without food, Yamato was surprisingly well. The soldier who found him said the boy identified himself as Yamato and said he was hungry, before the soldier fed him some bread and riceballs.

Yamato said he had been sleeping between two mattresses in the facility, where overnight temperatures had dropped to 7 degrees, and that he had been drinking water from a nearby tap. After being discovered, he was taken to Hakodate Hospital by helicopter where doctors said he was suffering from mild dehydration and malnutrition, as well as cuts, scratches, a rash and general exhaustion. At the hospital he was also reunited with his parents.

And that’s where the sh*tstorm begins…

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Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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