<p> A soccer ball that apparently floated across the Pacific Ocean after being swept away from northeastern Japan in the March 2011 quake-tsunami disaster has been found on the coast of Middleton Island off Alaska, according to US authorities.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The ball had a message of encouragement to a boy in Japanese and a signature indicating it was written in March 2005 by third graders of an elementary school, Yumi Baxter, 44, the Japanese wife of David Baxter, who found the ball in mid-March, told Kyodo News over the phone.<br /><br />Its owner was later identified as 16-year-old Misaki Murakami, whose name was written on the ball.<br /><br />Murakami, a high school second grader in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, told Kyodo News he believes the ball is the one he lost in the tsunami.<br /><br />The Baxters said they plan to visit Japan from May to June on vacation and hope to directly return the ball to the owner.<br /><br />If realised, it would be the first case in which an object that reached North America after being lost in the tsunami was returned.<br /><br />"I have no doubt that it is mine," Murakami said, adding that the ball was given to him by his classmates in March 2005, when he was in third grade, as a farewell gift before he transferred to another school in the city.<br /><br />"To be honest, I'm surprised. I want to thank the person who found it," he said.<br />"While I'm glad, it also reminds me of sad memories as none of my furniture or sentimental items have been found," he added, referring to uneasy nights he spent at a shelter after fleeing from the tsunami.<br /><br />Kanji that appear to be three different boys' names are also written on the ball in the photo made available online by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.<br /><br />David Baxter, a 51-year-old engineer, said he picked up also around mid-March on the beach a volleyball ball with messages apparently for a girl graduating an elementary school written in Japanese, but this ball has no information to specify the school or location it came from.<br /><br />NOAA and other US authorities are monitoring objects adrift in the sea after the tsunami by maintaining close contact with the Japanese government.</p>
<p> A soccer ball that apparently floated across the Pacific Ocean after being swept away from northeastern Japan in the March 2011 quake-tsunami disaster has been found on the coast of Middleton Island off Alaska, according to US authorities.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The ball had a message of encouragement to a boy in Japanese and a signature indicating it was written in March 2005 by third graders of an elementary school, Yumi Baxter, 44, the Japanese wife of David Baxter, who found the ball in mid-March, told Kyodo News over the phone.<br /><br />Its owner was later identified as 16-year-old Misaki Murakami, whose name was written on the ball.<br /><br />Murakami, a high school second grader in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, told Kyodo News he believes the ball is the one he lost in the tsunami.<br /><br />The Baxters said they plan to visit Japan from May to June on vacation and hope to directly return the ball to the owner.<br /><br />If realised, it would be the first case in which an object that reached North America after being lost in the tsunami was returned.<br /><br />"I have no doubt that it is mine," Murakami said, adding that the ball was given to him by his classmates in March 2005, when he was in third grade, as a farewell gift before he transferred to another school in the city.<br /><br />"To be honest, I'm surprised. I want to thank the person who found it," he said.<br />"While I'm glad, it also reminds me of sad memories as none of my furniture or sentimental items have been found," he added, referring to uneasy nights he spent at a shelter after fleeing from the tsunami.<br /><br />Kanji that appear to be three different boys' names are also written on the ball in the photo made available online by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.<br /><br />David Baxter, a 51-year-old engineer, said he picked up also around mid-March on the beach a volleyball ball with messages apparently for a girl graduating an elementary school written in Japanese, but this ball has no information to specify the school or location it came from.<br /><br />NOAA and other US authorities are monitoring objects adrift in the sea after the tsunami by maintaining close contact with the Japanese government.</p>