-Ikenna Okafor
A majority of football fans who are not familiar with Japanese culture had a feel of it when the fans did the unthinkable in Qatar.
It turned out to be one of the viral moments of the 2022 FIFA World Cup so far: Japanese fans cleaning up at stadiums after the completion of matches.
Supporters of the Japanese national football team were seen cleaning up Qatar’s Khalifa International Stadium after their win against Germany.
Fans of the Japanese team, known as the Blue Samurai, distributed hundreds of rubbish bags and cleaned up rubbish during and after the match.
It’s part of a tradition started by Blue Samurai fans at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia when they cleaned the stadium after a 3-2 loss against Belgium in the round of 16.
According to reports monitored online, a Japanese football player and coach, Takao Teramoto stated that “the Japanese people are very polite,” and the fans’ actions represent Japan’s respect-driven culture.
“We would have behaved the same way whether we won or lost this game against Germany,”_ he said. Noting that Japanese people learn the “importance of courtesy” from an early age.
“I hope that the importance of that feeling will be conveyed to the world.”
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