Authors: Joshua Cohan
Sankei via Getty Images(TOKYO) -- A basketball and buoy from Japan that washed ashore in Alaska have been returned to their owners in the tsunami region.
At a middle school in Rikuzentakata today, students gathered in the gym as FedEx workers delivered the ball wrapped up in a box. The school was washed away in the tsunami and students have since relocated to a new building.
Basketball players say they plan to place the ball on their bench during an upcoming game as a reminder of what they’ve been through.
Further south in the city of Minamisanriku, Sakiko Miura got the box she had been waiting for -- a buoy she had used as a sign for her restaurant, which was destroyed by the waves. Miura said she had given up on reopening her restaurant, but changed her mind after the buoy was found in Alaska.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio
