A stone replica of a Moai human figure found on Easter Island, created by Chilean artisans, arrived at a Tokyo port Tuesday to be presented next year to a Miyagi Prefecture town that was devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The newly made Moai statue, which was shipped from Chile, will be exhibited in Tokyo and Osaka from March before being given to the town of Minamisanriku in a ceremony scheduled for around May 25.
In 1991, Chile gave a Moai statue to Minamisanriku, which was affected by a tsunami triggered by a 1960 Chilean earthquake, to promote friendship between the two quake-prone countries.
As that replica was damaged by the 2011 disaster, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera promised last March during his visit to the town that a new Moai statue would be donated.