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Japanese Tsunami Victim'S Soccer Ball Found In Alaska (1180l) - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet Page 2

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Japanese Tsunami Victim’s Soccer Ball Found in Alaska (1180L)

Notes on my thoughts,

who is Japanese, talked with its owner, 16-year-old Misaki Murakami, by phone

reactions and questions as I

over the weekend. They plan to send the ball back to him soon.

read:

Misaki, from the town of Rikuzentakata, is surprised and thankful the soccer ball

has been found more than 3,000 miles away.

"I've never imagined that my ball has reached Alaska," Misaki told public

broadcaster NHK. "I've lost everything in the tsunami. So I'm delighted."

He was particularly glad because all furniture and sentimental items in his home

had been washed away in the March 11, 2011, tsunami, which devastated a long

stretch of Japan's northeastern coast and killed about 19,000 people.

The ball was given to him in 2005, when Misaki was in third grade, as a

goodbye gift when he transferred to another school.

Debris from the tsunami initially formed a thick mass in the ocean off Japan's

northeastern coast and has since spread out across the Pacific. In February,

NOAA said currents would carry much of the debris to the coasts of Alaska,

Canada, Washington and Oregon between March 2013 and 2014, though they

noted that some of it could arrive this year.

Earlier this month, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter fired on and sank a fishing boat in

the Gulf of Alaska that had drifted from Japan after the tsunami. Authorities had

deemed the ship a hazard to shipping and to the coastline.

David Baxter, a radar technician from Kasilof, Alaska, found Misaki's ball while

beachcombing in March on Middleton Island, 70 miles south of the Alaskan

mainland.

Baxter's wife, Yumi, reached Misaki with help from a Japanese reporter. Misaki

expressed his gratitude to the couple "for wanting to take the time to even try to

find him," David Baxter said.

Baxter also found a volleyball with Japanese writing on it a couple of weeks

later, and NHK reported Monday that its owner was also found - Shiori Sato, 19,

from Iwate prefecture.

The ball had her first name on it, and a viewer called in to the broadcaster to

suggest contacting Sato.

"Good heavens!" she told NHK. "I want to say (to the ball) 'Welcome back!' I

think it's a miracle."

Japanese tsunami victim’s soccer ball found in Alaska. Associated Press. April 24, 2012. Available at

Japanese Tsunami Victim'S Soccer Ball Found In Alaska (1180l) - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet Page 2