Mr Kato's relatives told police that he had "confined himself in his room more than 30 years ago and became a living Buddha, " according to a report by Jiji Press.

BBC: Tokyo's 'oldest man' had been dead for 30 years

Mr Harrer built him one, running the projector off an old Jeep engine, and discovered at his first proper audience with the living Buddha that the boy had already dismantled and re-assembled it, all by himself.

ECONOMIST: Heinrich Harrer