Sentimental Tsunami-Debris Soccer Ball Hits Alaskan Shore

A 16-year-old Japanese boy received a call from Alaska; the sentimental soccer ball he lost in the tsunami was found an ocean away.

For a 16-year-old boy, a valuable memory has crossed the Pacific. WHDH reports. “A soccer ball that washed ashore in Alaska may be the very first piece of debris to arrive on US shores from last year’s tsunami in Japan. Federal officials have been monitoring a huge debris field that’s been floating across the Pacific.” And as KTVX explains -- an Alaskan couple found the soccer ball. And they found a name. “The little boy put his name on it. That’s why you put your name on your things. The couple actually tracked him down.” The Associated Press explains how the couple got in touch with the boy and why the ball has so much sentimental value to him. “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. … 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 goodbye gift when he transferred to another school.”