In 1984 the wet research Prime Minister Nakasone ruled Japan. It was the heyday of sumo legend Chiyonofuji. And Mayumi Kanda was a teenager who attended high school with more and less pleasure. At the time, she was a member of the school’s science club in her hometown of Chōshi and as such was involved in an exciting project. The young researchers wanted to get to the bottom of the path of the Kuroshio, the ocean current in the western Pacific, by sending a message in a bottle. As part of the project, they threw 750 bottles with return forms into the sea near the island of Miyakejima. Mayumi Kanda was there, checked the bottles and hoped to see them again.
Around 50 bottles reappeared in the years that followed. In Japan, the Philippines, China, America. In 2002 someone found one on the Japanese south island of Kikaijima. After that there were no more reports. End of project. Everyone thought.
In June 2021 – the coronavirus ruled Japan and the dull Prime Minister Suga – Abbie Graham, 9, from Keaau, Hawaii, found a dirty object on the beach in Paradise Park between shells and sand. The parents said to leave the trash behind. But the child knew better. It was a message in a bottle. Message in a bottle from Mayumi Anda and the others at Chōshi High School. 37 years later, 6000 kilometers further east. Abbie Graham sent the return forms to Chōshi. The school called Mayumi Anda, 54 today. Mayumi Anda thanked him and said: “I’m surprised.”
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