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One of Two Imprisoned Runners Deported Back to Kenya

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20090109k0000m040139000c.html

translated by Brett Larner

Marathon runner Joseph Maura Kamau (21) was deported back to Kenya from the Nagoya Immigration Prison on Jan. 9 after being found guilty of violating the terms of his athlete visa status. Following his forced departure from Chubu International Airport Kamau's supporters expressed his wish to someday return to Japan.

Kamau came to Japan in 2003 on an athlete visa to compete in marathons and ekidens for a professional jitsugyodan team,* but in 2007 he was fired from the team following a leg injury. Kamau was taken in and supported by a small company in Nagoya where he was able to recover and resume practicing. However, in October, 2008 he was arrested by the Immigration Bureau and jailed in the Nagoya Immigration Prison. Immigration authorities successfully argued that Kamau's absence from racing indicated that he was no longer a competitive athlete and was merely working in Japan in violation of his visa status.

Takahide Watanabe (50), head of the Owari Asahi Running Club with which Kamau trained and which had sought to fight the Kenyan's deportation, commented to reporters, "I want to do whatever I can to get Joseph back to Japan to run again." The deportation date for Simon Maina Munyi (30), the second Kenyan arrested on immigration charges in Nagoya, has not yet been settled.

*Translator's note: The Omokawa jitsugyodan team originally hired Kamau and brought him to Japan before firing him when he became injured. Munyi ran for the Toyota team and was likewise fired after sustaining injuries. As foreigners their guilt was largely a foregone conclusion when arrested for an alleged crime. Click the two runners' names in the tags below for earlier stories on their arrests.
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