Doomsday refugee back from beyond

A Japanese man who was convinced the millennium bug would trigger the end of the world took refuge in the remote desert of Western Australia armed with a flak jacket, a gas mask, a chemical warfare suit and handbooks on surviving Armageddon.

A Japanese man who was convinced the millennium bug would trigger the end of the world took refuge in the remote desert of Western Australia armed with a flak jacket, a gas mask, a chemical warfare suit and handbooks on surviving Armageddon.

The man, whose 10-day visit was recorded in a report published yesterday on unusual customs cases in Australia, told a customs officer at Perth airport shortly before New Year's Eve he believed the vast desert area offered the best chance of survival.

The officer, whose suspicions were roused because the man was wearing a flak jacket, searched his luggage and found dehydrated food, purification tablets and camping gear. He confiscated a blow-gun and darts intended for hunting kangaroos, and sent him on his way, said the report, called Something to Declare.

A customs officer, Leon Bedington, was quoted as saying: "When he arrived, he was a bundle of nerves. He believed the world was about to blow up." Ten days later, the visitor returned to the airport. "He was much chirpier... He had decided nothing was going to happen. He had dumped his survival gear and was on his way back to Japan."