A dog rescued from drifting ocean debris after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami has been reunited with her owner more than three weeks after the disaster.
Animal shelter worker Toshio Suzuki in the tsunami-wrecked Miyagi region of northern Japan said the owner of the two-year-old mongrel called Ban saw Friday's rescue on television.
The woman did not want to be identified. Public broadcaster NHK showed the reunion, with the woman hugging Ban and the dog wagging her tail.
A coast guard helicopter crew spotted Ban more nearly 2km off the tsunami-hit town of Kesennuma in Miyagi. It was not known how long the dog had been at sea.
Mr Suzuki says the shelter has 19 dogs and several cats separated from their owners after the March 11th tsunami.