7-year-old boy found alive six days after he was left alone in forest

A seven-year-old Japanese boy has been found, nearly a week after his parents left him in a forest as punishment for misbehaving.

His father has apologised to rescuers who have been looking for the boy - Yamato Tanooka - for six days.

His father said he was sorry for what he called his "excessive behaviour", and that it caused such pain to his son.

The little boy was found by a soldier during a military drill, and is said by police to be in relatively good health.

Yamato, pictured before he went missing.

The tearful father promised to make a better job of raising him.

Yamato was found unharmed in an army training ground hut this morning, following a massive search by police and troops on Hokkaido.

The case sparked a nationwide debate about parental discipline after Yamato's parents said they made him get out of their car on Saturday as punishment for throwing rocks at people and cars while playing at a river earlier in the day.

His parents said they returned several minutes later, but he had vanished, in an area where bears are known to live, on Japan's northernmost main island.

The boy was found by a soldier in a military drill area about three miles from where he disappeared and identified himself as Yamato, police said.

A member of the self-defence forces shows the mattress which seven-year-old Yamato was using insidide a building in a military drill area in Shikabe town, on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido. Picture: AP

Yamato told police he had been in the drill area for several days after walking alone in the forest.

Appearing outside the hospital where the boy was taken after he was found, his father Takayuki Tanooka said: "We have raised him with love all along.

"I really didn't think it would come to that. We went too far. I thought we were doing it for my son's own good."

Asked what he had told his son, Mr Tanooka, fighting back tears, said: "I told him I was so sorry for causing him such pain."

The boy suffered some dehydration and was getting an intravenous drip, but besides some minor scratches on his arms and feet, no serious risks to his health were found, a doctor who had examined him told Kyodo News.