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A 9-year-old girl found a glass bottle on the beach of Paradise Park in Hawaii (USA). This was one of 750 glass bottles that were dumped into the sea near Miyakejima Island, Tokyo, between 1984 and 1985.
After finding the glass bottle, Abbie Graham discovered pieces of paper inside containing contact information in multiple languages, including Japanese, English, and Portuguese, explaining its origin and asking the finder to contact Choshi High School, located in Chiba Prefecture, eastern Japan.
Graham mailed the communication samples back to Choshi High School. It turned out that the messages in the glass bottles were part of a science experiment studying ocean currents, conducted by students of the Natural Science Club at Choshi High School.
Most of the 750 glass bottles were found in the Okinawa, Akita, and Kyoto prefectures of Japan. Others washed ashore on various beaches far from Japan, such as the Philippines, China, and along the west coast of the United States. The 50th bottle was discovered in 2002 on Kikaijima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.
Thanks to measures to prevent environmentally harmful behavior, the Club stopped releasing glass bottles into the sea in 2007. - Photo: Internet
Choshi High School's vice principal shared at a press conference on September 15th: "I thought the bottle found in Kikajima was the last one. After 37 years, I didn't think we could find any more glass bottles."
Former students of the Chosi High School Science Club were deeply moved by the discovery. Mayumi Kanda, 54, a member of the club since 1984, thanked everyone involved for finding the glass bottle nearly four decades after it was dropped into the sea. She expressed, “I was very surprised; this brought back nostalgic memories of my high school days.”
