Washed Up in Washington: Japanese Home?

Kayakers are scouring the coast of Washington state for more debris from Japan's tsunami—and their latest find, on a Makah Indian reservation 120 miles from Seattle, was rather haunting. A collection of nailed-together lumber produced by an Osaka factory, along with a bottle of kerosene with Japanese writing and a container of cough syrup, led three searchers to conclude they may have found the remains of a house, the AP reports.

"It was sobering, especially when you're smelling somebody else's cough syrup. Somebody lived here and it doesn't look like a house anymore. I was not prepared to find something like that," said one. An oceanographer says it's too soon to confirm that it was once indeed a home. "It's like an archaeological dig," he said. "It's a bunch of things that could be construed as a house." Experts are worried about the potential consequences Japanese debris could have on the Pacific Northwest's ecosystem following the arrival of a 66-foot dock and a 20-foot boat. (More Japan stories.)