Life in a terminal

Posted: Sunday, Nov 23, 2008 at 2342 hrs IST
Updated: Sunday, Nov 23, 2008 at 2342 hrs IST

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Mexico City, Nov 22: Hiroshi Nohara is on a layover at the Mexico City airport. It has lasted almost three months, and he has no plans to leave. For reasons he can’t explain, the Japanese man has been in Terminal 1 of the Benito Juarez International Airport since September 2, surviving off donations from fast-food restaurants and passengers and sleeping in a chair. At first, he frightened passengers, and airport authorities asked the Japanese Embassy to investigate why the foul-smelling man refused to leave. Now, he’s somewhat of a celebrity, capturing Mexico’s collective imagination with nearly daily television news reports on his life at the food court.

Tourists stop to pose with him for photographs or get an autograph. The Tokyo native flew into Mexico with a tourist visa and a return ticket home, but he never left the airport. In an interview 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. 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-coloured jacket and fleece blanket are dingy with overuse.AP

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