After seven days of security forces combing the remote woods in Japan, a boy missing since Saturday after being left alone by his parents as a punishment, has been found alive and well.

Seven-year-old Yamato Tanooka was found in military barracks near Shikabe in northern Hokkaido, just a few kilometres from where he was left.

His parents initially said he had got lost, but eventually admitted briefly abandoning him for being naughty.

His father has apologised to his son and rescuers, saying “we went too far”

Search teams including the Self-Defence Forces (SDF) have been combing the remote area, home to brown bears, for a week.