37-year-old message in a bottle from Japan washes ashore on Hawaiian beach

A glass bottle that was released into the water by Japanese high school students 37 years ago has been discovered approximately 6,000 kilometres away on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

According to the Japanese newspaper Mainichi, students from Choshi High School in the eastern prefecture of Chiba released the bottle in 1984 as part of a project to examine ocean currents.

Between 1984 and 1985, 750 bottles were thrown into the sea near Tokyo's Miyakejima Island.

The most recent was discovered in 2002 on Kikaijima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwest Japan. Nine-year-old Abbie Graham discovered the bottle on a rocky beach at Hawaiian Paradise Park in June. Contact forms in Japanese, English, and Portuguese were inside, saying that it had been launched off the shore of Choshi and requesting that the finder contact the school.

In early September, Abbie returned the contact papers to Choshi High School, along with a drawing of her and her sister eating sushi.

Since 1985, the school's bottles have been discovered in 17 locations, including Okinawa, the Philippines, China, and the west coast of the United States.

Mayumi Kanda, 54, a member of the natural science club in 1984, said, "I was surprised, it revived nostalgic memories of my high school days. I thank those involved."