Japan’s cleanliness is being deservedly heralded, but it should really be the norm

Japan and their supporters have garnered widespread praise for their tidiness at this winter’s World Cup.
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If cleanliness is next to godliness then the Japanese national football team must be the divine walking among us mere mortals. Last week, the Samurai Blue beat Germany in a profound disruption to the accepted order of international football. This grubby Qatari World Cup hasn’t always sparkled on the pitch, but the upsets have been coming with pleasing frequency, if nothing else.

After such a historic result, Japan perhaps would have been forgiven if they had forgot themselves a little in the subsequent celebrations - whacked some BABYMETAL on the speakers, maybe let the sake flow a little, y’know. Instead, they left their dressing room at the Khalifa International Stadium in impeccable condition. Seriously, the thing was so clean that it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that Hajime Moriyasu had sneaked Marie Kondo into his squad as third choice goalkeeper or something.

Bibs were left in exacting, neatly stacked piles on gleaming floors that had been swept to a point of spotless magnificence. Water bottles were tucked away in immaculate towers of poise beneath empty coathangers dangling in meticulous serenity. Somebody had even taken the time to fold a flock of origami cranes for the island in the centre of the room, presumably just because. You don’t get that kind of delightful attention to detail and whimsy in Sunday League football, let me tell you.

Talenthouse’s latest mural for NationalWorld on Japanese fans cleaning up after World Cup games.Talenthouse’s latest mural for NationalWorld on Japanese fans cleaning up after World Cup games.
Talenthouse’s latest mural for NationalWorld on Japanese fans cleaning up after World Cup games.

Japan’s fastidiousness didn’t stop with their squad, either. Out in the stands, travelling supporters whipped out rolls of blue bin bags after the full-time whistle and scoured the terraces for stray litter like a plague of locusts with a moreish craving for plastic bottles. Theirs was the dilligent cleanse of a gangland fixer or the host of a Channel 5 documentary about obsessive compulsive hoarders. Think Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction meets Kim and Aggie.

The reasoning behind Japan’s superlative tidiness, as with most enviable practices in the Land of the Risin Sun, is predominantly cultural. One fan explained to Al Jazeera: “Our heart is clean, so the stands must be clean. This means the team reaches its destiny.” Another said: “What we’re taught is that leaving things cleaner than the way you found it is ‘atarimae’. And that we should always express gratitude.”

‘Atarimae’ roughly translates into English as ‘stating the obvious’, or, in this particular instance, ‘if you see rubbish, pick it up’. In short, try and leave things better than how you found them. It’s a simple enough premise, and one that every nation represented in Qatar would do well to emulate. Already the likes of Ghana, getting to work in the aftermath of Monday’s win over South Korea, have.

Japan’s example is a fine one, and is deservedly being heralded, but it should really be the norm. Decency dictates that nobody should leave to others what they could feasibly do themselves. That being said, after Sunday’s collapse against Costa Rica, and with a fiendish contest against Spain set to decide their World Cup this evening, if Japanese supporters are intent on cleaning a path to ‘destiny’ for their side, they might need more than a bin bag and a measure of elbow grease. Swarfega, anyone?

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