The owner of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, swept out to sea during the 2011 Japanese tsunami, has been identified after it washed ashore in Canada.
Details from the motorcycle's license plate led to the discovery of its owner, Ikuo Yokoyama. According to CBC News, Mr. Yokoyama lost his home and three family members in the tsunami.
The motorcycle dealership that sold the Harley-Davidson to Mr. Yokoyama is now planning to ship it back to Japan for restoration.
This motorcycle is one of the first items in a wave of debris heading towards the west coast of North America, with most of the debris expected to arrive in 2013.
'Unmistakably Mine'
Peter Mark discovered the Harley-Davidson on April 18th, on the coast of an island in British Columbia. Mr. Mark noted that the motorcycle was heavily corroded and rusted but recognized the distinctive Harley-Davidson logo.
Upon realizing that the bike's license plate was from Miyagi Prefecture, the area hardest hit by the March 2011 disaster, he understood it could be part of the tsunami debris.
Mr. Yokoyama's motorcycle had been inside a large white container he used as a storage shed, which washed away, leaving the bike partially buried in sand. "This is unmistakably mine," Mr. Yokoyama told Nippon TV upon seeing photos of the motorcycle. "It's miraculous." He also expressed a desire to thank the man who found it personally.
In February, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials said ocean currents would carry much of the debris 4,000 miles (6,400 km) to the coasts of Alaska, Canada, Washington, and Oregon between March 2013 and 2014.
Lighter items, such as buoys and bottles, were among the first to wash ashore on the continent. In March, an Alaska man found a football and later a volleyball from Japan. Last month, the US Coast Guard sank a Japanese fishing boat that had drifted to the Gulf of Alaska, after deeming it a hazard.
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