Japan Supporters Leave Spotless Impression behind at World Cup

July 3, 2018

Tokyo- Not only did the Japanese national soccer team's performance at the FIFA World Cup in Russia attract attention, but its supporters also captured the hearts of people around the world by leaving stadiums spotless after watching matches.

Many supporters of the Samurai Blue, a nickname of the Japanese team, picked up rubbish at the stadiums where the national squad had matches. The move was also joined by spectators from other countries.

In Volgograd, where Japan played against Poland in its third and final match of the tournament's group phase, Takahiro Matsumoto, a 40-year-old supporter, said that he was bombarded with questions from television stations, including Britain's BBC and Qatar-based Al Jazeera.

Matsumoto, who is from the city of Hamamatsu in the central Japan prefecture of Shizuoka, answered the questions by saying that Japanese people try to make sure that they return things to a cleaner state than before they use them.

The tradition of Japanese soccer fans cleaning up litter started shortly after the establishment of the Japan Professional Football League, better known as J.League, in the early 1990s.

The tradition first caught people's eyes at the 1998 World Cup in France.

While many Japanese supporters say that cleaning up after themselves is nothing special, the habit drew particular attention and received praise from people abroad during the ongoing tournament in Russia on the back of the excellent performance of the Japanese team.

In the World Cup in Russia, Japan, which is at 61st place in the FIFA rankings, reached the last 16 for the third time, but failed in its attempt to grab its first quarterfinal berth, with its 3-2 loss to third-ranked Belgium in their knockout phase opener on Monday.

Asked by an overseas media organization about the Japanese supporters' tradition, Samurai Blue defender Maya Yoshida, 29, said that he and other members of the team have also been impressed by the fans.

He added that he is extremely proud of them being applauded by the world for their behavior.

Goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, 35, said it is a good thing that the move is gradually spreading among people from abroad.

It is amazing that the action is highly evaluated as something started by Japanese people, he said. Jiji Press