Ball swept by tsunami to Alaska, to be returned to boy

Tokyo A teenager who lost his home in Japan's devastating tsunami now knows that one prized possession survived: a football that drifted all the way to Alaska.

Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say the ball with the youngster's name inscribed on it is one of the first pieces of debris from last year's tsunami to wash up on the other side of the Pacific.

A man found the ball while beachcombing on an Alaskan island, and his wife, who is Japanese, talked with its owner, 16-year-old Misaki Murakami, by phone over the weekend. They plan to send the ball back to him soon. Murakami, from the town of Rikuzentakata, was surprised and thankful the football has been found more than 5,000 kilometres away.

"It was a big surprise. I've never imagined that my ball has reached Alaska," Murakami told public broadcaster NHK.

"I've lost everything in the tsunami. So I'm delighted," he said. "I really want to say thank you for finding the ball."

Sentimental value

He was particularly glad because all furniture and sentimental items in his home had been washed away in the March 11, 2011, tsunami.

The ball, which also had messages of encouragement written on it, was given to him in 2005, when Murakami was in third grade, as a good-bye gift when he transferred to another school.

David Baxter, a radar technician from Kasilof, Alaska, found Murakami's ball while beachcombing in March on Middleton Island, 110 kilometres south of the Alaskan mainland.

Baxter's wife, Yumi, reached Murakami with help from a Japanese reporter. Murakami expressed his gratitude to the couple "for wanting to take the time to even try to find him", Baxter said.

The couple plan to visit Japan in May but do not plan to deliver the ball directly to Murakami. They are somewhat reluctant to visit him because they don't want to create too much of a commotion, Baxter said.