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SUAO, Taiwan (Jiji Press) — An underwater camera found washed ashore in Taiwan was returned on Friday to a Japanese woman who lost it while visiting a Japanese island about 230 kilometers from Taiwan more than two years ago.
Serina Tsubakihara, a 21-year-old university student, received a warm welcome when she visited an elementary school in Suao, Yilan County, northeastern Taiwan, to collect the camera, found by a student during the school’s beach cleanup last month.
In a ceremony to return the camera to Tsubakihara, students and their teacher performed a puppet play, showing her losing the camera in September 2015 while enjoying scuba diving off the island of Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, followed by the elementary school student finding it on the coast of Taiwan on March 27 this year.
Tsubakihara, tearful at the enthusiastic welcome, expressed her gratitude to the student and others.
“I somehow feel linked with Taiwan. I want to serve as a bridge for friendship between Japan and Taiwan,” said Tsubakihara, who is now on leave from Sophia University in Tokyo and lives in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture.
The teacher’s post on Facebook, which led to the discovery of the owner of the camera, has about 28,000 likes. “Reactions are still coming in from all over the world,” the teacher said.
