A seven-year-old boy was left alone on Mount Fuji in Japan for eight hours after his father decided to finish a mountain hike without him.
The boy was sitting by himself on a bench more than 2,000 meters high. The weather was cold, foggy, and rainy. He had only a soft drink and a snack.
His 48-year-old father told him to wait after the boy said he was too tired to keep walking. The father then continued climbing toward the top of the mountain with his older son.
Workers at a mountain hut noticed the young boy near the sixth station on the Fujinomiya hiking route and called the police. Officers found the father higher up the mountain, between the seventh and eighth stations. This area was about a three-hour walk away from the boy.
When the father returned, police strongly criticized his actions. They told him that leaving a child alone is never acceptable, even if it means stopping a climb. The father apologized and said he made a rash decision.