A ride on the wild side: Harley-Davidson lost in Japanese tsunami is found in Canada

The rusted bike was found in a large white container where its owner, Ikuo Yokoyama, had kept it. He was located through the licence plate number, according to Japanese TV.

A Harley-Davidson motorbike lies on a beach in Graham Island, western Canada. Japanese media say the motorcycle lost in last year's tsunami washed up on the island about 6,400 kilometres away. The rusted bike was originally found by Peter Mark in a large white container where its owner, Ikuo Yokoyama, had kept it. The container was later washed away, leaving the motorbike half-buried in the sand. Mr Yokoyama, who lost three members of his family in the March 11, 2011, tsunami, was located through the license plate number, according to Fuji TV in Japan.
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TOKYO // It must have been a wild ride. Japanese media say a Harley-Davidson motorcycle lost in last year's tsunami has washed up on a Canadian island about 6,400 kilometres away.

The rusted bike was found in a large white container where its owner, Ikuo Yokoyama, had kept it. He was located through the licence plate number, Fuji TV reported yesterday.

"This is unmistakably mine. It's miraculous," Mr Yokoyama said when shown photos of the motorcycle.

Mr Yokoyama lost three members of his family in the March 11, 2011, tsunami, and is now living in temporary housing in Miyagi prefecture.

The motorcycle is among the first items lost in the tsunami to reach the west coast of North America. In March, an Alaska man found a football and later a volleyball from Japan; their owners were located last week using names that had been inscribed on the balls.

Peter Mark, the Canadian who found the bike and its container, told Fuji TV that he "couldn't believe that something like that would make it across the Pacific". The report said he found it on April 18 on Graham Island, off the coast of British Columbia.

The motorcycle was caked with "a lot of corrosion, a lot of rust," said Mr Mark.

When he saw the Japanese licence plate, Mark wondered if it might have drifted from Japan after the tsunami, and contacted a local TV station.

The Fuji report said the motorcycle would be shipped back to Japan, and that the shop that sold it to Yokoyama would help with paperwork and storage.