A soccer ball belonging to a junior high school in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, was found more than 170 kilometers away on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture. It was believed to have been washed away during Typhoon No. 19 in October.
A 70-year-old man found the ball on a beach on the island and sent it back to the school. Letters of thanks arrived from members of the soccer club at the school.
"I am grateful for this miraculous act of fate," he said.
Noboru Henmi, who lives in the Nagaishi district of the island, likes walking along the beach to search for palm nuts that drift ashore. On Nov. 2, he found a ball on a beach in the southern part of the island, with characters that read "Yodakubo Nanbu Chu" (Yodakubo Nanbu Junior High School) printed on the surface.
Henmi asked for the location of the school to be looked up at a local library and found it to be in Ueda. Knowing that Nagano Prefecture was hit by the typhoon, he called the school and was relieved to learn it had not been damaged.
According to the school, the ball was left on a riverside near the school after it was kicked during soccer club practice. After being washed away by the typhoon-swollen river, it appeared to have been carried to the Sea of Japan via another river in Ueda, then the Chikuma River in Nagano Prefecture and the Shinano River in Niigata Prefecture, before drifting to Sado Island.
Returning the ball with a letter, Henmi received a clear folder with letters from 15 members of the soccer team and a group photo of them. He also received pamphlets on Ueda and the neighboring town of Nagawa, where the students live, as well as some local specialties.
Letters from club members not only expressed their surprise and gratitude, but also expressed their thoughts about taking good care of things. One of them wrote, "I'm happy to think that I've been connected to a person in a distant place."
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