Japanese Fans Clean Up While Attending World Cup

The World Cup is an event that draws fans from around the world, and for better or worse, those fans represent their country just as much as the players do. Japan's team had a big win over Germany earlier in the tournament, but it's their fans that are setting the best example.

After that win over Germany, Japanese fans didn't run out to celebrate. Instead, a bunch of fans were spotted combing through the stands and picking up trash.

That got a lot of attention on social media, mainly from countries where this kind of thing is far from the norm.

However, according to Japan's manager Hajime Moriyasu said that this is actually pretty common in Japan.

“For Japanese people, this is just the normal thing to do,” he said. “When you leave, you have to leave a place cleaner than it was before. That’s the education we have been taught. That’s the basic culture we have. For us, it's nothing special.”

Japanese Football Association is even supplying thousands of trash bags to help fans keep the venues clean.

A Japanese fan cleans up the stands after Japan's World Cup loss to Costa Rica. Not sure what's up with the headgear though. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)

Let's Follow Japan's Lead On This One

This is the sort of thing that I hope catches on in the States even though know I won't. The stands at any venue after any major sporting event are a total pigsty.

Maybe if the expectation was that as fans we'd have to clean up after ourselves, people wouldn't just fling trash everywhere with impunity,

I'd settle on cleaning up after yourself, not even the rest of your section. I feel like that's even a bridge too far for some people.

Oh well, major props to Japan, the Japanese Football Association, and their fans.

That's good stuff.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle