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Noaa - Jiji Press / AFP - Getty Images
This soccer ball is believed to have drifted from Rikuzentakata, Japan, to Alaska following the March 2011 tsunami.
A Japanese teenager has identified himself as the owner of a soccer ball that washed up on an Alaska beach last week – the first traceable debris to arrive in the United States from last year's tsunami.
Misaki Murakami, who comes from the city of Rikuzentakata, where more than 3,000 homes were destroyed, came forward on Sunday after reading news reports about the find.
Marker pen writing on the soccer ball identified the 16-year-old and the name of his school.
The soccer ball and a volleyball were discovered by David Baxter, a technician working at a radar station on remote Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska, Doug Helton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wrote ina blog post last week.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency said Murakami was at home at the time of the tsunami disaster in March 2011 but managed to escape the waves by running to higher ground with his pet dog.
Kyodo via Reuters
Misaki Murakami, 16, says he is the owner of a soccer ball that was found on the shore of a remote Alaska island.
His family lost everything, including their home, and are currently living in temporary housing provided by the local government.
Ghost ship sinks to bottom of Gulf of Alaska
Murakami told the news agency Sunday that he had been searching for his family's belongings but that until the ball was found he had had no luck.
Prized possession
The ball was a gift from his former homeroom teacher and his 13 classmates when he had to change schools in the same area seven years ago.
He said it was a prized possession, which he always kept hanging in a net next to his bed.
Kyodo News via AP
David and Yumi Baxter hold the soccer ball and a volleyball at their home in Alaska.
Doug Helton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that there wasn't enough information on the volleyball for Japanese officials to locate its possible owner.
Murakami spoke with Baxter on the phone to thank him for finding his treasured ball.
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Japan's northeast coast on March 11, 2011, triggered a 75-foot wall of water that flattened waterfront towns, killing 16,000. About 3,000 people are still unaccounted for. The tsunami triggered a crisis at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee in the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
An earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear meltdown -- residents of Japan's northeast coast suffered through three intertwined disasters after a massive 9.0 magnitude temblor struck off the coast on March 11, 2011.
U.S. authorities were immediately aware that the clockwise circulation of the Pacific's northern waters would deliver some remnants of that destruction to American shores.
A Japanese ghost ship, Ryou-Un Maru, turned up earlier in the Gulf of Alaska off Southeast Alaska after a 4,500-mile journey. The U.S. Coast Guard sank the vessel April 5.
Tracking the debris from the Japan tsunami can be tricky, as it moves across the Pacific via ocean currents and winds. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
In January, a half-dozen large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms appeared at the top of Alaska's panhandle and may be among the first tsunami debris.
State health and environmental officials have said there's little need to be worried that debris landing on Alaska's shores will be contaminated by radiation.
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Leave a Comment:
Wwwiiiiilllssoon of coarse we are so glad that you survived.
I'm hoping that many more in Japan will have precious gifts found and returned as this young man did.
However, the writer and/or editor need to go back to school to learn how to write and edit articles and the majority of commentators need to retake 7th grade English to learn grammar and grade school spelling.
Do not forget learning the difference between present and pass tense.
OK 'nonreturn'.... what is the difference between present and pass tense? Is this where the player passes the ball to a team mate? Doesn't anybody read and check their posts?
Misaki Murakami, Looking for attention as teen children of his age always do.
What has he done that could be construed as "looking for attention"? The ball was found; the finder announced it online, and the kid said, "That's mine."
The Angry Guy if you research the story this teen and hundreds of others have made the same claim. Just another teen looking for attention.
Raymond
Teens wouldn't have to look for attention if they were getting enough at home.
Realist-502574, NO argument there. Totally agree.
What home?
Raymond - wrong. The ball really did belong to this one. The others may have been looking for attention (or a free ball), but tell me: what is the ball's rightful owner supposed to do, other than say, "It's mine"?
i think it was very nice for the couple to retuen the ball to the person
The soccerball represents an important lesson...that we are not alone and we need each other to survive.
This is a great story and I hope to hear more. Good can come from tragedy and sometimes the small things mean a great deal. I hope people on the west coast will continue to find the small things. GOOD WORK!!
Great! Now if we can only send back all those radioneucleotides, radioactive Barium & Kripton, Strontium 90, Ceisum, and all the rest of the poison that has wound up on our grocery shelf,s in the form of Bumble Bee Tuna, it would all be good
Wilson!!!!!
willlllllsssssssson!!!!
This is a sweet story. I know the teen and his family lost their possessions, but receiving at least one sentimental item back can be encouraging to a person. I am glad to hear that they have each other as well. Things can be replaced, loved ones cannot.
Lol, the sentence about the volleyball not having enough information made me laugh a bit. It appears to have plenty of writing on it in the photo.
Okay all you radiation alarmists. The meltdown occurred after the tsunami. The soccer ball isn't radioactive.
I'm not so sure.
Lol, I think I see a glowing soccer ball. Wilson you look so radiant all of a sudden!
Send the kid the ball along with a bill for all costs associated with returning the ball.
That sounds like a poor thought process. Very sad, Mike.
Just send him the ball or better use it as a reason to take a vacation to Japan. They can meet him in person and travel a bit.
You know the Japanese leave things as they are such as wallets. If there is one on the ground, they do not pick it up. They leave it there as they believe the owner will come back for it. My husband's aunts visited there and witnessed such behavior.
Find out who the Young Man's Favorite Football Club is and get him some tickets - and the air fare, if needed.
Mike, I'm sure if it was you, you'd also add a "small" handling surcharge as well.
Whatta guy!
I was in Japan a couple of years ago and got a bit drunk (too much sake). On my way back to the hotel I kind of fell to the ground. You are correct, Mari, the Japanese do leave things as they are. They left me on the ground for two weeks.
Why not just leave the soccer ball alone? It wasn't hurting anybody
goooooooooooal!!!!
I was wondering when someone was going to say that. Good one.
Send WILSON back to Tom Hanks.
Yoweee!What a little planet it is.
Young Misaki has had more than his fair share of trouble,good luck to him.It's overdue.
Mr. and MRS. Baxter don't need good luck wishes,it seems they have good karma to spare. And now,a new friend on the other side of the world.
Since Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson, Joel Osteen and Swaggart's son (pervboy jr) all know for a fact that tsunami's are sent by god whenever he needs to "right man's wicked ways and get him back on tract" we should all be thankful and praise the lord for sending us this ball. I mean after all only true Americans know that this is all part of god's plan right? I just love my lord so much and want to thank him for using this technique of destroying thousands so he can get his point across. All praises are due to my lord and savior jesus christ and not one of those other "silly religions".
SHUT UP!
Talk about S I L L Y ! ! ! ! Jesus, my gardner is being sent back to meheeko and I am gonna have to fix the place up alone now. As for YOUR silly jesus, well, he crossed you in a really bad way. Maybe you should start worshiping a talk-o torteeya or a loaf of bread. Keep religion out of this forum........FOOL!
Do you worship the devil or something?
It sure says a lot about Magic Marker ink.
Ha! Ha! I wonder if it was a Sharpie pen?? They'd love that bit of advertisement! LOL!
This story is kind of cool. I can't believe that those balls made it so far!! It would be nice to see the balls returned to the little boy. Now that they know who he is, I wonder if they will mail them back to him?? I know it doesn't seem like much, but when you've lost everything you have ever owned, a small item from your "former" life can mean so much!
W I L S O N ! ! ! They found WILSON ! ! ! I don't care what is written on that Soccer ball, it's wilson, I can tell by the position of the black squares and the location of the inflation thingie. I need WILSON back. It's too lonely on this deserted Island without him. He doesn't know I had to pull two more teeth and he was the only one to give me comfort after I pulled first one. Please forward it to me via FedEx Air. They know where I am as does AARP. Thanks a million in advance.......... Tom
Finders keepers!
Have they been able to shut down the atomic power plant yet?
This is neat and I'm glad the young man found his memorabilia and will be able to salvage some of his life back. Kudos to the NOAA tech who thought of someone other than himself. The tragedy of that earthquake and follow-on tsunami stretch the sufferings of decent humans! Incidents such as this and those to surely come in the future may allow some element of calm and peace for those who lost so much!
It is a small world - it is nice to see someone go beyond the norm to bring a smile to someone else.
And yes Mubberfly, he is a good looking kid, and with the smile created when he received his ball back - it is even better.
Someone should tell him that was a hell of a kick to get it all the way here!
Good job to everyone involved.
Hey - MSNBC editors...Pay more attention to the text. The caption under the video says the event occurred on March 11, 2001? No guys, it was last year - duh.