Post date: Apr 23, 2012 11:19:40 AM
IWATE PREFECTURE, JAPAN (TBS) - A Japanese tsunami survivor was told on Sunday (April 22) that his treasured soccer ball was miraculously recovered in Alaska thousands of kilometres away from the teen's home in northern Japan, over one year after it was swept away in the March 2011 tsunami.
The miraculous recovery of a Japanese tsunami survivor's soccer ball in Alaska is the teenage boy's only surviving belonging more than one year after the March 2011 disaster.
Misaki Murakami, 16, who lost his home on March 11, 2011 was shocked to hear that his elementary school soccer ball had made the voyage thousands of kilometres across the Pacific ocean.
The soccer ball holds special meaning for Murakami. When he transferred schools at the end of his third year in elementary school, friends and a teacher signed the ball with their names and a message reading "Good luck Misaki Murakami", according to Japanese media.
The ball which hung in a net from a wall in his home to remind him of his friends, was later washed away along with his house by the 2011 tsunami.
"I would never have imagined that my soccer ball could have travelled thousands of kilometres and made it all the way to Alaska. I was shocked but also I have yet to recover even one of my personal belongings, so I'm really happy about this," Murakami said.
Following the earthquake that shook his home in 2011, Murakami escaped to a nearby evacuation centre before the tsunami hit his hometown.
After his house was swept away, none of his personal belongings had been discovered up until the recovery of the soccer ball.
"Not just the ball, but not even one of the items from our house has been recovered. I thought, maybe I could find something, so I kept searching but even over a year later I hadn't found anything," Murakami said.
The ball, found on Alaska's Middleton Island was discovered by David Baxter, a technician at a radar station on the island, a remote site in the Gulf of Alaska.
Beachcombers and clean-up workers in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest have found debris, including sports equipment, that was likely set adrift by the tsunami. The soccer ball stood out because it had identifying information.
Murakami was extremely appreciative to the clean-up crews for taking the time to contact him about the ball.
"I want to say thank you very much for taking the time to do all that in recovering it," Murakami said.
Although most of the tsunami debris expected to hit U.S. coastlines is predicted to arrive in 2013 or later, some items including the soccer ball have already washed ashore.
In Alaska, most of the marine debris identified as tsunami-related has been buoys and floats from oyster farms.