Japan benefactor sends winning lottery ticket to flood victi

TOKYO (AFP) - An anonymous benefactor sent a winning lottery ticket worth 200 million yen (1.8 million dollars) to a local government in central Japan to help disaster victims of heavy rain, the governor said.

"I would like to use this press conference to say 'Thank you very much," Issei Nishikawa, governor of Fukui prefecture, some 300 kilometers (190 miles) west of Tokyo, told a news conference.

The ticket, confirmed by authorities to be a real winner, came with a letter from the nameless donor.

"If this can help even a little those who have met with unhappiness and disaster, I would be very happy," the writer said in the letter dated Thursday.

Three people died and two were missing in Fukui after floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains over Japan's northern coastal areas since mid-July.

At the peak of the rain damage, some 9,141 people had to flee their homes in Fukui, a prefectural official said.

Fukui intends to put the funds toward disaster relief and will not go further to try to identify the sender, a spokeswoman said.