The Japan Times - Swiss Eurovision winner Nemo returns to hero's welcome

Nemo Mettler flew into Zurich Airport to be welcomed by several hundred fans, waving flags and banners and chanting the 24-year-old's name.

Nemo won Eurovision 2024 in Malmo in Sweden in the early hours of Sunday, with the highly personal song "The Code", which encapsulated the performer's journey towards realising their non-binary gender identity.

Fans gathered at Switzerland's biggest airport had to wait as the incoming Swiss International Air Lines flight from Copenhagen touched down late at 10:38pm (2038 GMT).

People were lined several deep behind the barriers outside the exit doors, passing the time with excited chatter and breaking into renditions of "The Code" before Nemo's arrival.

Cheers erupted as Nemo emerged, giving a double thumbs-up before posing for selfie photos with fans and signing autographs.

One bearded supporter approached the singer saying "Congratulations, honey pie!" while handing over a large colourful spray of flowers.

Some supporters waved banners in banners in English reading "Smash the binary: we exist", and "We exist, we insist, we persist".

Another in German read "woman, man, human", with boxes down the left, with the box next to human marked with a cross.

Nemo celebrated with them in a big group hug as they chanted "We broke the code" and "we exist". The Eurovision champion hugged a supporter wearing a "protect trans kids" t-shirt.

Now living in Berlin, Nemo hails from Biel/Bienne in northwestern Switzerland, the largest bilingual city in the country and the heart of the Alpine nation's watchmaking industry.

The city is planning to host an official public reception to pay tribute to their hometown hero.

Sunday's victory was only the third time Switzerland had won Eurovision.

As per tradition, Switzerland will host Eurovision next year. Contenders to host have already begun throwing their hats into the ring.

Eurovision's organisers, the European Broadcasting Union, said an estimated audience of more than 160 million people would have seen this year's final, broadcast live in the 37 participating countries and online on YouTube.

T.Kobayashi--JT