Hawaii sailor finds message in a bottle from Japan

[September 16, 2011]  PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY, Hawaii (AP) -- A sailor participating in a beach cleanup in Hawaii found a message in bottle that had been dropped in the ocean more than five years ago by a school girl in Japan.

Petty Officer Jon Moore stumbled upon the clear glass bottle Thursday at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai. Inside, he found a note from Saki Arikawa, four origami flowers, and a photo of Arikawa's sixth grade glass in Kagoshima.

The note was dated March 25, 2006. It read, "I wrote this letter because we'll graduate elementary school so I wanted it to be a graduation memory."

The Navy says Moore was among 40 base personnel and 16 students and faculty from a Kauai school who picked up beach trash in observance of International Coastal Cleanup Day.

[Associated Press]

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