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GSDF joins search for missing Hokkaido boy

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A very, very poor decision by the parents to do this (to say the least). This is going to be one expensive search. One must wonder if the family will be held responsible for the costs (similar to JR invoicing estates of those jumping in front of trains). Anyone have any idea about this?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

OMG, hope he is finally found, alive. His missing reminds me of an American boy who just vanished in thin air some years ago in Hokkaido too. Last I read, he was never found.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

My intuition tells me he was obviously not abandoned where he said they did so. Check the neighborhood where he lived.

12 ( +13 / -1 )

I just can't escape the feeling that there's a lot more to this story...

8 ( +9 / -1 )

I hope the J-cops are interrogating the parents with the same vigor they do with other criminals. I seriously doubt they have divulged the entire story. Surely, the boy would have been found by now, if they left him where they said they did.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

A boy that small couldn't have travelled too far in 5 minutes. As others have said, I don't think this is where the parents abandoned him. The police need to question the older sister and find out if the brother was really with them that day like the parents said.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Don't they have a heatsignature camera that they can attach to a chopper? Would make searching a lot easier.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Surely, the boy would have been found by now, if they left him where they said they did.

No, it's not surely that he would have been found. Ask anyone who has done search and rescue professionally if they agree with you, and I assure you, surely they will not.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Don't they have a heatsignature camera that they can attach to a chopper? Would make searching a lot easier.

After four days? Not going to much heat coming out of Yamato unless he found shelter out of the elements, which is unlikely on a mountain.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I'm still not convinced the parents' story is legit. If their story is true, I fear the worst for this little fella. Four days in thickly forested and mountainous bush without food water is too long for this kid to survive. I'm starting to think beyond the search and starting to wonder what charges these idiots will face when his body is found, be it in the forest or elsewhere.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

No, it's not surely that he would have been found. Ask anyone who has done search and rescue professionally if they agree with you, and I assure you, surely they will not.

You could be right, but we're not talking about a lost hiker in the middle of the bush. It's a 7 year-old kid abandoned on the side of the road. It seems odd that he would choose not to walk along the side of the road. Either the parents are lying, the bears got him, or someone else picked him up.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

I still believe, if he was let out of the car like the father says, someone in another car picked him up in the minutes before the parents returned.

But what Ms. Alexander suggests, the sister needs to be questioned separately from the parents, should be done.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

No, it's not surely that he would have been found. Ask anyone who has done search and rescue professionally if they agree with you, and I assure you, surely they will not.

I too find it highly unlikely that a 7 year old, who desperately wanted to be found, could have remained lost for so long. Without food or water and close to dusk, he would not have gone further than a couple of km at the very most the day he was lost.

I doubt that there is much chance of a rescue now, but the search must continue.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

The parents' story just does not ring true. And now searchers find no clues of the child's presence in the woods? I hope they are investigating other avenues and are treating the parents as suspects.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

First, separate the girl from the parents, permanently, for her safety more than anything. Question her separate from the parents. Separate the parents themselves and drill them about the story, including details about everything.

Sorry, but the kid would have been found by now if they were not telling the truth. Even if someone had taken the boy,mother would have had to have passed the parents, or been spotted by others.

In any case, hope the parents, at the very least, are charged for all expenses related to the search. When a body's found, here or elsewhere, they should at the very least be charged with negligence resulting in death. Take away the girl immediately, though. Have had several more people asking me, since Monday night, if this is normal behavior in Japan. I've said no, but it sounds more common than I had initially feared.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

I am starting to have bad feeling that this kid will be found alive (I hope I'm wrong) So the sister has not been questioned yet? I hope they find any trails or signs of human passage or just a gum wrapper at least. Best of luck to GSD force.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@smithinjapan

Sorry, but the kid would have been found by now if they were not telling the truth.

I think the not is in there by mistake.

Even if someone had taken the boy,... would have had to have passed the parents, or been spotted by others.

Not if that driver was initially heading in the same direction as the parents as they left the tyke, and then turned around after 'rescuing' him.

But yes, divide the three, father, mother, and daughter. Most likely, this has been done, or at least 'a work in progress'.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Not to speculate, what if the body was buried? they will never find the boy out there. If the bear ate him there should some tracks right? just a question.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

First, separate the girl from the parents, permanently, for her safety more than anything. Question her separate from the parents. Separate the parents themselves and drill them about the story, including details about everything.

well heck, why didn't the police think of that already? you surely can't be serious, smith. you really don't believe that the police have already done this?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Seeing as we are all speculating like crazy here..........maybe the boy has decided to teach his parents a lesson and done one. His parents left him by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere after all, he definitely can't have felt very wanted. He may have hitched a lift or walked through the forest and found another road. I guess those options are more comforting than if he did indeed head into the forest.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

why didn't the police think of that already? you surely can't be serious, smith. you really don't believe that the police have already done this?

You have way too much confidence in the Japanese police.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

Have had several more people asking me, since Monday night, if this is normal behavior in Japan. I've said no, but it sounds more common than I had initially feared.

Great. If I have any questions relating to this case, then I can ask you? As you appear to be an expert on Japanese behaviour.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Sadly but maybe it's time to call in the cadaver dogs and start searching, preferably at the parents house first.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

The parents murdered him and buried him - this is their scapegoat.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

well heck, why didn't the police think of that already? you surely can't be serious, smith. you really don't believe that the police have already done this?

nakanoguy01 - As Tony Alderman said, you have way too much faith in the Keystones. A few years back, a team of police came to a suspect's apartment to arrest him over the killing of a foreign girl. He asked them if he could go back in to put on some shoes - which they allowed him to do unsupervised. He climbs out he window and spent a year or so on the run before turning himself in. They are often as incompetent as they are lazy.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

If a bear got him there would be signs of a struggle. It is very possible that he was abducted.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Now the parents story has changed again. It's being reported in the Japanese press that they forced him out of the car, but he was crying and running after the car, so they stopped at let him in. But a little while later, they put him out again and drove off. I'm sorry but their story just keeps changing, and with the lack of any sign of the boy, dead or alive, I'm starting to think foul play is at hand.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Hasn't anyone considered the possibility that the boy was soon picked up along the side of the road by another driver - someone who is as sick as the parents?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Now the parents story has changed again. It's being reported in the Japanese press that they forced him out of the car, but he was crying and running after the car, so they stopped at let him in. But a little while later, they put him out again and drove off.

Where are you getting this - did you see it on the news or read it? I just tried to find an article in Japanese with more information about this, but I couldn't find anything that referred to their story changing again.

Hasn't anyone considered the possibility that the boy was soon picked up along the side of the road by another driver - someone who is as sick as the parents?

If was someone keeping the kid, then it's likely they would be sicker than the parents.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

@MsDelicious

Im with you, this who thing smells fishy to me.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Davasted by this news and been following ever since it appeared. Sigh, we are in the dark. Will the author shed some light on the interrogations of father mother and the other child? Poor little boy, I wish you'd find a better shelter.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Yamato Tanooka has been missing since last Saturday

Its already Thursday. No way he could survive on his own out there. RIP little guy. Hope the courts throw that big, fat Penal Code book at his parents.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

There was a Russian girl that survived in the woods for a few days before she was found, but with every day passing the chance of finding the kid alive diminishes, and it could still be foul play. But i still hope the kid is found alive.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Ever since I heard about this story, it felt shady. I feel like this "missing in the woods" story is a cover up story. Hopefully I'm wrong, but at the same time, it'd still be a really bad thing to happen to anyone (adult or child) to be lost in a forest.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Strangeland, it was reported on Yahoo news the Japanese site last night.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Strangeland, it was reported on Yahoo news the Japanese site last night.

I started my search there, but I couldn't find any story that said that.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Were the bloodhounds brought in? Could make things easier.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

"After four days? Not going to much heat coming out of Yamato unless he found shelter out of the elements, which is unlikely on a mountain."

Not really. You have it reversed. He would be easy to spot higher up because of his heat signature, but he would be more likely to be sheltering, thereby reducing the heat signature. If the parents are telling the truth and the boy was actually there to begin with, the boy went UP the mountain, as children in these situations often do. Please google David Paulides, who has hundreds of such cases that show similar patterns time and again. Kids do not act like adults. The boy was not interested in being found at all, at first. As night came, he sought shelter among the rocks higher up on the mountain. So even if they used IR sensing in the early days they would not have found him because he was sheltering. After a couple of days, if that long, hypothermia drove him to start taking off his clothes. After death, he is emitting no IR, and he is likely to be in a cave or natural shelter, where he will be difficult to find.

For the crucial first three days, searchers searched DOWNWARD from the last place he was purportedly seen. That doomed the kid. If they had searched UPWARD, IR might have picked him up in the first one or two days. One must keep in mind also that a child moves more slowly upward, so a smaller area could have been searched instead of a sprawling area downhill.

If they find him clothed, he died of a bear attack, which is not likely. If they find him unclothed, he will have passed from exposure.

One other thing, and it is a little gruesome, but IR sensing might show bear activity in areas where the boy might have been, or might still "remain." So IR is not useless even if the boy is no longer alive.

Of course, if the parents were NOT telling the truth, then they will not find any evidence ever, simply because they have hidden it all.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

RIP, sadly I think its a grim end for this story. I hope it wasn't murder dumping, I mean you would think they would at least know where they stopped so they have a idea of max travel distance a boy could travel....

a shame, home the courts punish the parents.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

5SpeedRacer5

Not really. You have it reversed. He would be easy to spot higher up because of his heat signature, but he would be more likely to be sheltering, thereby reducing the heat signature.

The key point was after 4 days. Due to exposure or hyperthermia he would be dead after the second night, hence no heat emitting. Your post was very informative, thanks.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

There's more than this to the Story. I keep trying to connect the dots on the information given by the parents,including their lies and cannot understand. Once they lied ONCE,they can hide the truth for as long as they want. The Story they are telling does not seem to be true...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I have the feeling the parents have yet a third story to tell about what happened to their son and none of us are going to like it......

1 ( +1 / -0 )

What exactly are the parents doing at the moment? Just hanging around their house? Should be in cuffs.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@pointofview

Beat me to it! The parents haven't been arrested yet?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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