Japanese Fans Pick Up Rubbish At World Cup Opening Match Even Though Japan Isn’t Involved
The World Cup is back, and fans across the globe are anticipating the feast of football after a four-year wait.
Besides the sport, however, another typical World Cup sight inspires people — Japanese fans picking up rubbish after a game.
This year, they were seen doing this right from the opening match.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
Their actions earned the respect of a Bahraini, who was in awe at the public spiritedness of the Japanese.
Rubbish left behind after World Cup opening match
The heartwarming scene was recorded in an Instagram post by influencer Omar Farooq from Bahrain and translated by Qatar Living.
After the opening match, where hosts Qatar lost 0-2 to Ecuador, rubbish was left behind in the stands.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
They comprised cardboard boxes, cups, plastic bottles, flags, and bags.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
Japanese fans pick up rubbish in stadium
This is when Mr Farooq saw something that floored him.
Japanese fans in the audience, recognisable by their samurai costumes and jerseys, took out blue trash bags and started picking up rubbish.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
From the video, it appears that fans of all ages took it upon themselves to do the clean-up unprompted.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
Even kids weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, lugging around heavy trash bags filled with rubbish.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
Japanese fans pick up rubbish all around stadium
Mr Farooq had heard about Japanese fans doing this, he said.
Indeed, this isn’t the first World Cup that the Japanese have been cleaning up after themselves. They’ve been picking up rubbish even in Singapore.
However, he admitted that he never thought it was real, until now.
At the most, he’d reckoned it would be just one or two Japanese doing it, but then he realised that there were many of them and they were cleaning “all around the stadium”.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
They also picked up flags strewn on the ground and respectfully draped them over the seats or took them away.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
Mr Farooq marvelled at their actions, remarking, “it’s not even their match!” — Japan wasn’t involved in the opening game between Qatar and Ecuador.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
Japanese fans “respect the place”
He decided to ask some Japanese why they were cleaning up a place that doesn’t even belong to them.
One woman explained the reason behind the practice by answering,
Japanese never leave rubbish behind us. We respect the place.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
He also asked another Japanese fan whether they were doing it for the cameras, and he replied in the negative.
This respectful attitude earned the Japanese some respect in return.
Suitably impressed, Mr Farooq expressed his respect for the people unquestionably cleaning the stadium.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
Looks like at least one person has come away from this World Cup with some new-found appreciation for people from a distant land.
Source: Qatar Living on Instagram
Bringing people together without kicking a ball
Football is often described as the Beautiful Game given its ability to bring people together.
In this case, however, it seems the Japanese fans have brought people together without even kicking a ball.
We hope their actions will inspire other fans to do the same.
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Featured image adapted from Qatar Living on Instagram by way of Omar Farooq on Instagram.
