Japanese football fans continue to win hearts around the world after cleaning up again following their team’s loss to Costa Rica at the World Cup in Qatar, inspiring fans of other squads to follow suit.
Despite losing to Costa Rica 0-1, the Japanese team’s fans were praised by FIFA for helping staff at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium clean up after the match.
“In victory or defeat, there is always respect,” FIFA wrote on Twitter. “Thank you for helping to #SaveThePlanet, Japan fans!”
This is not the first time Japanese fans have picked up after themselves and others. Following the opening game between host country Qatar and Ecuador, a group of fans went viral for staying behind to clean the stands. The Japanese national team followed suit by leaving their locker room spotless after their massive 2-1 win against Germany.
“For Japanese people, this is just a normal thing to do,” Hajime Moriyasu, the Japanese team’s coach, told The New York Times. “When you leave a place, you have to leave it cleaner than it was before.”
Subscribe to
NextShark's Newsletter
A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories, in under 5 minutes.
Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories to your inbox daily for free.
Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive.
The Samurai Blue fans’ acts of cleanliness have inspired fans from other countries to do good deeds of their own.
Fans from France were seen tidying up after a match.
While some Japanese fans appreciated the outpour of support for their culture, some expressed confusion over making a big fuss about something as simple as cleaning.
Following the match on Sunday, the Japanese Football Association provided hundreds of blue plastic bags with the words “Thank You” written on them in English, Japanese and Arabic.
However, only a few fans out of thousands helped out.
“We were actually invited to clean up, but we didn’t want to,” 23-year-old fan Nagisa Amano told the Times. “We just wanted to enjoy the stadium. We have a right to do that, I think.”
Along with Japan, the Senegalese team also helped to pick up trash after winning a match at the 2018 World Cup.
Featured Image via Getty
