"I told my son that I am sorry that I made him go through a very hard situation. He nodded to me," Takayuki Tanooka said Friday during a news conference, CNN reports. "I have been raising him with lots of love. I would like to pour a lot more love over him from now on, and watch him growing up."
Tanooka and his wife had left their son, Yamato Tanooka, alone beside a road Saturday because he had been throwing rocks at cars and people. When they returned minutes later, Yamato had disappeared.
The parents initially said the boy had become separated while picking wild vegetables, but they later admitted to leaving him on the side of the road in a wooded area known for having bears.
The New York Times reports the Yamato made his way to a military base about three miles from where he had been dropped off. He found an empty hut in a training area and huddled inside, drinking water from a faucet outside and sleeping on mattresses spread on the floor.
He was found by a soldier Friday, who said the boy quickly ate two rice balls offered to him but did not cry, the Associated Press reports.
The boy was dehydrated and had some scratches on his arms and legs, but otherwise was unharmed. The parents are not being investigated by police, reports say.
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