Japan’s football fans are earning respect for their tradition of staying behind to help clean stadiums after World Cup games.
Doha, Qatar – Japan’s stunning victory over Germany left their football fans in a state of joyous disbelief on Wednesday.
Now, supporters of the Samurai Blue are earning praise in Qatar for an off-pitch tradition that appears to be uniquely Japanese: Cleaning up stadiums after other football fans have left.
Japan supporter Saysuka (right) said she is aware people are noticing Japanese fans cleaning up World Cup stadiums, but they are not doing it for the publicity [Hafsa Adil/Al Jazeera]
In what is becoming an increasingly common sight, Japanese fans stayed behind after their team’s win over Germany on Wednesday and helped to clean up the Khalifa International Stadium.
As soon as the stadium started to empty, Japanese supporters could be seen taking out light blue disposable rubbish bags and getting to work.
While the sight of spectators staying back to clean up may be a surprise to many, for the Japanese it is not out of the ordinary.
“What you think is special is actually nothing unusual for us,” Danno, a Japanese fan, told Al Jazeera with a casual shrug.
Danno does not understand why people think the gesture is odd.
Japanese fans cleaning the stadium after they’ve just shocked the world. I love the people and i definitely have a soft spot for Japan. @joeyharbog_