A motorcycle that washed ashore on Canada's west coast may have drifted across the Pacific after being carried out to sea by last year's Japanese tsunami.
Canada's CBC television reported that the Harley-Davidson had Japanese plates from one of the hardest hit areas.
It was found on 18 April by beachcomber Peter Mark in a cargo container on the Haida Gwaii islands off the coast of British Columbia.
"You just never know what you're going to stumble upon when you go for a drive and, lo and behold, you just come across something that's out of this world," Mr Mark said.
The container also held new golf clubs, tools and camping equipment.
The Japanese consulate in Vancouver has the plate number and is looking into whether the owner of the motorcycle is still alive, CBC reported.
Japanese and Canadian officials could not be reached by AFP for comment.
The plates indicate the motorcycle was registered in Miyagi prefecture, where thousands died during the 11 March, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
If confirmed, the motorcycle and the container would be the first known debris to wash up in Canada, some 7,000km away.
Some 20 million tonnes of debris have washed up at other locations since the disaster.
Researchers in Hawaii have developed computer models to forecast its movement and predict where and when it could come ashore.
In early April the US Coast Guard sunk a deserted Japanese trawler that had appeared off the coast of Alaska more than a year after being set adrift by the tsunami.
