S/ Reporter / One week has passed since the boy went missing. This is the Amori River today. Because the water level is relatively low and the flow is calm, police are conducting their search in areas where they were previously unable to operate.

The missing child is 5-year-old Tanaka Reo from Kumamoto Prefecture.

On June 21, he was visiting a hot spring facility in neighboring Kagoshima Prefecture with his parents and 2-year-old brother.

Officials said the boy vanished when the parents went ahead to the changing room after bathing and briefly took their eyes off him.

As the boy may have fallen into the nearby Amori River, police and firefighters continued their search on June 28 with a team of 40 people but could not find any clues as to his whereabouts.

The boy's mother said she hopes her son is found as soon as possible and that she wants to bring him home no matter what condition he is in.

Search activities have been hampered at times due to heavy rain that fell on the Kyushu region in southwestern Japan, causing the river's water levels to rise.