Scenes of Japanese soccer fans sweeping stadiums and picking up trash after a match first drew public attention in France in 1998 — Japan’s first appearance in the World Cup. The tradition has continued every four years.
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Japan fans clean up trash from the stands after a FIFA U-20 World Cup Group A soccer match against Chile at National Stadium in Santiago, Chile, on Sept. 30, 2025. Japan’s supporters clean their seats after losing the World Cup, group E soccer match between Japan and Costa Rica, at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan , Qatar, on Nov. 27, 2022.
Japan supporters clean the stands at the end of the World Cup group E soccer match between Germany and Japan, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 23, 2022. Japanese fans clean the stadium’s stand after Japan was defeated by costa Rica in the World Cup, group E soccer match between Japan and Costa Rica, at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan , Qatar, on Nov. 27, 2022.
Japan supporters clean the stands at the end of the World Cup group E soccer match between Germany and Japan, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. Japan supporters clean the stands at the end of the World Cup group E soccer match between Germany and Japan, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022.
Japan fans clean up trash from the stands after a FIFA U-20 World Cup Group A soccer match against Chile at National Stadium in Santiago, Chile, on Sept. 30, 2025. Japan fans clean up trash from the stands after a FIFA U-20 World Cup Group A soccer match against Chile at National Stadium in Santiago, Chile, on Sept. 30, 2025.
Japan’s supporters clean their seats after losing the World Cup, group E soccer match between Japan and Costa Rica, at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan , Qatar, on Nov. 27, 2022. Japan’s supporters clean their seats after losing the World Cup, group E soccer match between Japan and Costa Rica, at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan , Qatar, on Nov. 27, 2022.
Japan supporters clean the stands at the end of the World Cup group E soccer match between Germany and Japan, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 23, 2022. Japan supporters clean the stands at the end of the World Cup group E soccer match between Germany and Japan, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 23, 2022.
Japanese fans clean the stadium’s stand after Japan was defeated by costa Rica in the World Cup, group E soccer match between Japan and Costa Rica, at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan , Qatar, on Nov. 27, 2022. Japanese fans clean the stadium’s stand after Japan was defeated by costa Rica in the World Cup, group E soccer match between Japan and Costa Rica, at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan , Qatar, on Nov. 27, 2022.
fans sweeping stadiums and picking up trash after a match first drew public attention in France in 1998 — Japan’s first appearance in the World Cup.in 2022, and it’s certain to continue when Japan opens play in June with group games in Arlington, Texas, and Monterrey, Mexico. The cleanup astonishes non-Japanese who might be accustomed to leaving stadiums and stepping over half-eaten food, shredded paper wrappers, and cups — empty or with liquid dribbling out.
At the World Cup in Russia in 2018, Japanese players famously cleaned the dressing room after a loss and left a thank-you note in Russian. In 2022, fans left thank-you notes on rubbish bags written in Arabic, English and Japanese. It’s not that complicated. Beginning in elementary school, students are socialized to behave this way — in the classroom, in the school yard or on a playing field.
“Japanese sports fans at world events who clean up the stadium are behaving much the same way they did when they learned how to enjoy sports as school boys and girls,” Koichi Nakano, who teaches politics and history at Sophia University, told The Associated Press. Rendered in English the message is: “Return it the way you found it. ” Many Japanese elementary schools don’t have janitors, so the clean-up work is left to students.
Office workers often dedicate time to sprucing up their areas. Also, there are relatively few trash containers in public spaces in Japan, so people take their waste home with them. This keeps the sidewalks cleaner, saves the cost of emptying trash cans, and keeps away vermin.
“The way most ordinary soccer fans experience soccer at school is no different from other sports, and the emphasis is not just on physical education but also on moral education as well,” Nakano added. Raised in Germany, Barbara Holthus is the deputy director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo. A sociologist, she agrees it’s prudent not to put Japanese on a pedestal. Japan, like any country, has its own challenges and shortcomings.
“An academically sound explanation is that people in Japan just happen to be socialized different,” she told The AP. “If you grew up with a certain way of how things are being done, you apply that to even cleaning up a stadium afterwards. ” At work here is also the Japanese concept of “meiwaku,” which implies not causing trouble or annoying others.
From the Japanese point of view, leaving rubbish piled up in a stadium would be a bother to others. Japan is a relatively crowded place, and greater Tokyo alone has about 35 million people, almost the population of the entire state of California. People need to get along. She said the focus is often on the collective, compared with the West where the emphasis is on the individual and individual rights.
“You don’t want to bother people. It goes to all areas of life in Japan,” Holthus added.
“We are raised that we don’t have to clean up after ourselves in public spaces because there is going to be some kind of public service doing that. ” And because Japanese people have received widespread praise for the clean-up, the behavior has been reinforced.
“Now that the media has latched onto the story and lavished praise on Japanese fans, they have made it a point of pride to display those values and norms,” Jeff Kingston, who teaches history at Temple University in Japan, wrote in an email. The clean-up tradition is not limited to soccer’s marquee tournament. The same thing happened last year at the Under-20 World Cup in Chile as Japanese fans cleaned up after a match.
And even more recently last month at Wembley Stadium in London where Japan defeated England 1-0 in an international friendly.
“It’s one of our traditions,” said Toshi Yoshizawa, who was leading the cleanup in Chile. “We grew up with the teaching that we should leave a place cleaner than when we arrived. ” William Kelly, an emeritus professor of anthropology at Yale University and a specialist on Japan, said the tradition is linked to soccer more than other sports. He speculated it’s tied to the establishment of Japan’s professional football league more than 30 years ago.
“It was trying to distinguish itself from baseball by emphasizing teams’ community embeddedness and commitment,” Kelly wrote in an email. “Soccer fans felt, and feel, more a part of the club and its stadium. ”Wade has written about sports and the politics of sports around the globe for The Associated Press.
He has covered nine Olympics and five soccer World Cups and has been based for AP in Madrid, London, Beijing, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, before moving to Tokyo.
Japan National Soccer Team FIFA World Cup Mexico Japan General News Asia Pacific Latin America Central America Sports Mexico National Soccer Team France National Soccer Team World News Barbara Holthus Toshi Yoshizawa Tokyo World News
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