Why Japanese Soccer Fans Will Likely Be Cleaning Up Your Stadium After World Cup Games

When Japan takes the field at the World Cup this June, the action off the pitch may draw as much attention as the play on it. Japanese fans are expected to continue a decades-long tradition of staying after matches to sweep stands and collect trash, a ritual that has become a signature of the nation's soccer culture.

The practice first drew international notice at the 1998 World Cup in France, Japan's tournament debut. It has since been observed at every World Cup, including in Qatar in 2022, and will likely continue when Japan plays its group-stage matches in Arlington, Texas, and Monterrey, Mexico.

"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," said Koichi Nakano, a professor of politics and history at Sophia University.

The behavior is reinforced by a Japanese phrase: "Tatsu tori ato wo nigosazu"literally, "a bird leaves nothing behind." The English equivalent is "return it the way you found it."

In many Japanese elementary schools, students are responsible for cleaning their own classrooms and schoolyards, as janitorial staff are limited. Public trash containers are also relatively rare, encouraging citizens to take waste home. Office workers routinely dedicate time to tidying their workspaces.

The tradition extends beyond fans. After a loss at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Japanese players cleaned their dressing room and left a thank-you note in Russian. In 2022, fans left thank-you messages on rubbish bags in Arabic, English, and Japanese.

William Kelly, an emeritus professor of anthropology at Yale University and a Japan specialist, noted that the ritual is particularly associated with soccer. When Japan's professional league was founded more than 30 years ago, Kelly said, it deliberately sought to distinguish itself from baseball by emphasizing community engagement. "Soccer fans felt, and feel, more a part of the club and its stadium," he wrote.