Do you remember the curious case of Hiroshi Nohara?The Japanese traveler had stayed in Mexico City’s Benito Juarez airport since September sleeping on the ground and spent his days lingering in the food court. Yet unlike Merhan Karimi Nasseri (an Iranian who was “stuck” at Paris’ De Gaulle Airport for eighteen years) Nohara voluntarily stayed at the Juarez airport and could leave whenever he wished. (Would that make Nohara an attention whore?)
On Sunday Nohara finally left though under seemingly odd circumstances:
“Another Japanese person came for him yesterday, and they left in a taxi after spending 117 days in the airport,” said Victor Manuel Mejia, head of the airport’s press office. “We can’t remember any similar cases in the past, it was totally atypical”…Image- daylife.com (“Hiroshi Nohara, 40, from Tokyo, is seen at the international airport in Mexico City November 27, 2008.”)
Nohara may have gone home with a woman who visited him often and invited him to stay at a house in the city’s Colonia del Valle neighborhood, newspaper Reforma reported today. The paper published a photo of Nohara walking to a cab with an unidentified woman.
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, snopes.com, AFP, Bloomberg
I wonder how long his tourist permit is for? If Immigration gave him only 90 days then he overstayed while in the airport. If they gave him (the more likely) 180 days then he only has 63 days left before he must leave Mexico.
ReplyDeleteWhat a funny story.
According to reports Nohora's visa was valid until March 2009. Moreover, his visa allowed him to stay legally in Mexico beyond the airport.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that he sought attention and sought some sort of limelight. If that's the case then his sojurn at the airport worked wonderfully.