US Farmer's Lost Phone Turns Up In Japan

An American farmer's lost smartphone has made a return trip to Oklahoma after an eight-month journey that included a stop in Japan.

Kevin Whitney said his iPhone fell out of his shirt pocket in October while he was unloading grain into a large silo.

He said: "I knew it was lost forever and there was no retrieving the thing."

The 53-year-old was so convinced his phone was gone for good that he purchased a new one the next day.

Meanwhile, Mr Whitney's old phone was just beginning its trek.

It first travelled to another Oklahoma grain facility before making its way down the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers to a depot in Louisiana.

From there, the grain was loaded on to ships bound for another depot on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

In late May, Mr Whitney received a phone call from Eric Slater, who manages Zen-Noh Grain Corporation's terminal in Louisiana.

"Lo and behold, I get a call from a guy who works with this grain company in Convent, Louisiana, saying a guy at a feed mill in Japan found the phone," Mr Whitney said.

Mr Slater was sent the phone and charged it. He then scrolled through the pictures to determine the identity of its owner.

He said: "I knew if that was my phone, I'd probably want it back."

Mr Slater added that it was not the first time he has come across phones lost amid the mountains of grain that come through his facility.

"Frankly, I field about a phone a month," he said.

Mr Whitney said his "old" phone, still in pristine condition, completed its remarkable journey in June, and is currently sitting in his desk at home.