Japanese citizen Hiroshi Nohara flew to Mexico City airport three months ago, and has stayed in the airport ever since. He survives on handouts and sleeps in a chair. He is said to be “foul-smelling.”
The Tokyo native flew into Mexico with a tourist visa and a return ticket home, but he never left the airport. In an interview Thursday alongside the airport McDonald’s, he said he had no motive for his extended stay and doesn’t know how much longer he’ll remain.
“I don’t understand why I’m here,” he said through a visiting interpreter originally hired by a television station. “I don’t have a reason.”
The embassy can’t force him to leave, and since Nohara’s visa is valid all Mexican officials can do it wait for it to expire in early March.
During his stay, Nohara’s wiry goatee has grown into a scraggly mass. His red-tinted hair is speckled with dust and dandruff, and his cream-colored jacket and fleece blanket are dingy with overuse. He smells like he hasn’t had a shower in months.
“He’s a calm person, a nice man,” said Silvia Navarrete del Toro, an airport janitor. “He just sits here and eats all day.”