In March of 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japanese coastal areas leading to the death of over 15,000 people. The tsunami also led to a nuclear reactor in the area leaking radiation in one of the worst nuclear disasters ever. Amidst the disaster, one of the more unusual things to surface in the post-tsunami news was that after more than a year, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle lost in the tsunami was found.
This particular Harley-Davidson was found 4000 miles across the Pacific Ocean on an isolated beach on the British Colombia Graham Island. The man who discovered the Harley-Davidson was a Canadian named Peter Mark. The rusted and beaten motorcycle and the remains of the insulated shipping container it was stored in were found on the beach at low tide.
Harley-Davidson offered to return the battered motorcycle to its rightful owner, Ikuo Yokoyama. The man turned the offer down and instead asked the motorcycle manufacturer if it would place the motorcycle, as is, into its museum collection is a tribute to the people who died in the natural disaster. Harley-Davidson agreed, and plans to put the motorcycle on display in the Harley-Davidson Museum are underway.
