John Zegrus

A well-dressed Caucasian man arrived in Tokyo by plane from someplace in Europe in July 1954. He informed customs that he was in Japan for work and that this was not his first visit. He was proficient in Japanese in addition to French and Spanish. However, his country was not listed on his passport, therefore there was a problem.

There are now two different versions of this story. One (the internet version) claimed that his passport, which was heavily inked with stamps from Europe and Japan, was issued in a location known as Taured. Zegrus believed that there was a country between France and Spain that had existed for 1,000 years despite conventions to the contrary. However, he understood what they meant when given a map. There was a place called Andorra where Taured ought to be. Zegrus was gonna visit a corporation that had never heard of him. Both lacked his motel. He didn't exist on paper. Untrustworthy officers secured him a room and kept him under observation all night. He left in the morning, leaving behind his possessions and passport, which had been kept out of Zegrus' sight.

This is the internet version, as noted, complete with some improbable claims that he was a time traveler or from another dimension. But even though it has been greatly inflated and changed, it is not a total fabrication. In 1960, a guy by the name of John Zegrus did enter Japan using an odd passport; the British parliament debated the matter. Tamanrosset, the capital of Tuarid, was where his passport was issued. Additionally, it was written in a foreign tongue. Contrary to the internet's Taured, the actual nonexistent Tuarid was reportedly a sub-Saharan African nation. Later, during his trial, Zegrus identified himself as "a naturalized Ethiopian and an intelligence agent for Colonel Nasser." He received a one-year prison term.