Weird news - Japanese boy abandoned by father, found after a week

Sometimes the behavior of parents seems very weird. Among all animals, human children seem the most vulnerable when they are alone, they need the most help. Given this, it seems odd when one visualizes this case where parents abandoned their 7 year old son in a Japanese forest as a punishment, and then he went missing for a week. Given a forest and being alone, it is a miracle that the boy made it out alive, having found a hut with a tap so that he was able to get water to drink.
He was very hungry when found by a soldier who provided him with some food, he was checked for injuries and then reunited with his parents who were very sorry for their behavior. They could have lost their son, and in the US or UK, child services would have got involved if parents had behaved like this (link to article):

The father of a seven-year-old Japanese boy who went missing for nearly a week after his parents abandoned him in a mountain forest as punishment apologised today hours after his son was found safe. "My excessive act forced my son to have a painful time," he said. The boy, apparently unharmed and in good health, was discovered at a military base. Reports said he had taken shelter in a hut and found a tap to drink from but was hungry and immediately asked for food when discovered. "A Self-Defence Force official who was on a drill found a boy whose age appeared to be seven," said Tomohito Tamura, spokesman for police in northern Hokkaido island.