Photo/Illutration Maki Okubo (Provided by Okubo family)

WATARI, Miyagi Prefecture--The remains of a woman engulfed by the tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 have finally been returned home.

Her parents received a box wrapped in white cloth containing her lower jawbone at Watari Police Station on Oct. 24, about eight years and seven months since the disaster devastated the Tohoku region.

The remains of 27-year-old Maki Okubo from Yamamoto in the prefecture were found 20 meters under the sea about 6 kilometers off the coast of the city at the end of August.

Her remains were found in local fishermen's gill nets. Maki was identified from DNA and dental records.

Her mother, Keiko, 61, held the remains gently, as her father, Mitsuo, 66, placed his hands on the box.

Mitsuo received a call from the police station around noon on Oct. 11, and recognized the number, as he had been in contact with them many times.

"Some remains believed to be your daughter's were found," the officer said.

When Mitsuo told his wife about it, she had difficulty processing the news at first, saying, "It was unbelievable, but I was relieved."

On the fateful day of March 11, 2011, Maki was working part time at the Joban Yamamoto driving school near the sea in the city. After the massive temblor, she was cleaning up when she was swept up in the tsunami.

Her parents walked along the coastline innumerable times looking for some clues, and received help from the police and the Japan Coast Guard.

"We searched nearly the entire coastline of Miyagi Prefecture," Mitsuo said.

As they continued to search, the damaged school and houses were dismantled and a tide embankment was constructed. Eventually the debris from the disaster disappeared from the coastline.

As time passed, their search requests took longer to be accepted by authorities.

"Do they want us to give up on her?" Mitsuo recalled, disheartened at the time.

However, they always remembered Maki's smile. She looked elated when she rode a bicycle for the first time, and smiled kindly at her pet bird and cat. Had she become a wife and mother, who knows how bright her smile would have been?

"Continuing to be missing was too difficult," Keiko said.

The couple, wanting to understand what happened on that day, took legal action separately from a suit filed by families of 25 students who died in the disaster.

The Sendai High Court settled the couple's lawsuit in July 2016, which included a condition that a cenotaph be built at the former school site.

Her parents have visited the cenotaph on weekends and on the 11th of every month with an offering of black coffee, which their daughter liked. However, the question remained: "Where's Maki?"

They had her grave built on a hill, because Maki disliked getting wet by water as a child.

However, they plan to keep her remains at a Buddhist altar in their house for a while, as they can finally be close to their daughter.

A total of 1,220 people remain missing in the prefecture as of October this year due to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, according to Miyagi Prefecture and the prefectural police. The identity of the remains of nine victims found could not be determined.