CRESCENT CITY, California (AP) - A small boat that washed up in Northern California after the massive 2011 tsunami that hit Japan has been claimed by a city that was devastated in the disaster.

The Triplicate newspaper in Crescent City reports that officials in the Japanese city of Rikuzentakata are in a "giddy state of shock" and would love to get the boat back.

Rikuzentakata spokesman Amya Miller said hours after photos of the six-metre boat were posted to Crescent City's Facebook page, a teacher from the Japanese high school's marine sciences programme said the vessel was theirs.

Humboldt State University geologist Lori Dengler said she posted the photos recently after a university librarian translated the name of the high school from the boat.