Mondial-2026: les Japonais et la "culture" des tribunes propres
True to form, Japanese fans left the stands spotless in Dallas on Sunday after their team's World Cup opener against the Netherlands, explaining that cleaning up was part of Japanese "culture".
Wearing the "Blue Samurai" jersey, the Japanese spectators stayed after the 2-2 draw to meticulously collect all the rubbish lying around in the stands and pile it into blue plastic garbage bags.
"We were taught that when we use a place, we must leave it cleaner when we leave than it was when we arrived," explains Eita Tanaka, a beer and some cups in hand, wearing his team's blue jersey.
"For example, at school, we clean our classrooms ourselves without our teacher needing to tell us to," adds Tanaka, who is 20 years old.
The cleanliness of Japanese fans, whose team is participating in its eighth World Cup, has become its trademark internationally.
"It's our culture, everywhere we go we have to clean up after ourselves, it's our spiritual approach, our attitude," says Futo Hagiwara, proud of this collective behavior.
And it's catching on. New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston was spotted joining Japanese fans after Sunday's game, wearing a blue Japan jersey with his name on the back.
Sociologist and philosopher Masachi Ohsawa believes that a mixture of a sense of social responsibility and group pressure is at the root of the supporters' behavior.
"The Japanese tend to be less interested in large-scale justice—issues like global inequality, conflict, or climate change—but they are extremely sensitive to small-scale moral considerations," he explains.
"When they interact with people in the same space or with whom they have direct personal contact, they feel a strong desire not to cause them worry or make them uncomfortable," he adds.
Household chores are part of Japanese education from a very young age, and children can be seen scrubbing school floors and tables every day.
Public trash cans are scarce in the country, so people have to take their garbage home. Disposing of household waste in public spaces in Japan is, in fact, a real challenge.
Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Osaka University, Scott North indicates that these supporter groups are organized with leaders and followers.
"Since everyone gathers, they are expected to act as a group," explains this American who has lived in Japan for about forty years. "And when the leaders take out the bags and say 'let's go,' nobody is going to say no."
"In Japan, as soon as someone starts picking up litter, those around them feel they simply have no choice but to follow suit," Ohsawa insists.
"In this case, the primary motivation is not so much the desire to keep the stadium clean or to avoid causing work for those who have to clean it afterwards," he explains. "It is more the desire not to be perceived as a nuisance within one's own group."
Whatever their motivations, the Japanese supporters present at this World Cup will continue to clean house as long as they are in the tournament, starting with the next match against Tunisia on Saturday in Mexico.
And Hagiwara will be happy to continue setting an example.
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