Message in a bottle traveled 4,000 miles from Japan to Hawaii in the ocean in around 5 years.

A sailor found a message in a bottle on the beautiful beach of Kauai that was sent by a sixth-grader in Japan about five years ago.

According to online reports, U.S. Navy Petty Officer Jon Moore found the bottle last Thursday during a beach clean up project near the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island. They were plucking cigarette butts and other litter from the beach when he spotted the bottle.

“I looked over and saw the bottle. I jokingly thought it would have a treasure map inside, but it actually had a message,” He said.

He was delighted to see that inside the bottle were four origami flowers and a letter dated March 25, 2006 signed by a Japanese student Saki Arikawa who asked that whoever found the bottle to write back.

There was also a picture of Arikawa’s class from Kagoshima, a city in Japan’s southern island of Kyushu.

Moore, a Guyana native, said he immediately thought of home after finding the bottle because his wife and son happen to live in Japan. The sailor said he plans to visit Kagoshima on his next trip home to visit his family and to write back to the Japanese girl who is 5 years older by now.

Message in a Bottle photo credit: Associated Press