TOKYO -- Argentine football legend Diego Maradona flew into Tokyo on Friday to attend the World Cup final and could not resist a dig at Japan's longstanding ban on his visit due to his past drug conviction.

Maradona, exceptionally admitted by Tokyo as a special Argentine government envoy of tourism and sports, is scheduled to watch the showdown between Brazil and Germany in Yokohama on Sunday.

It was too late for the 41-year-old, the hero of Argentina's 1986 World Cup triumph, to cheer his countrymen on in their latest campaign which ended prematurely in the first round.

"I am in a calm state of mind because I have not killed anyone.

I feel fine," a chubby Maradona told reporters in Spanish with a smile upon arrival at Tokyo's Narita Airport when asked how he felt now that he was here.

The comment appeared to be a sarcastic reference to Japan's initial refusal to grant Maradona an entry visa which he earlier said he could not understand as he was not a murderer or any kind of felon.

About 100 people greeted Maradona, some waving sky blue and white Argentine flags, when he appeared at the arrival lobby after a Japan Airlines flight from Amsterdam, reported Reuters.

Clad in a gray Windbreaker, a gray T-shirt, a pair of shin-length black shorts and black trainers, he declined requests to sign autographs but stopped to shake hands with a few well-wishers before being escorted by Argentine Embassy officials into a waiting limousine.

His bulging waistline prompted some bystanders to wonder if it was really the former athletic superstar.

During a week-long stay in Japan, Maradona is also scheduled to attend a World Cup-related festival and meet media, according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry official.

It was his first trip to Japan in 23 years since he led Argentina to the world youth championship here in 1979. But he had tried in vain to come in 1994 and 2000.

Maradona, who has been undergoing rehabilitation for cocaine addiction in Havana, had planned to work as a commentator for a Mexican television network on World Cup matches.

The Tokyo government had initially refused him a visa but later accepted him in an official capacity.