CHENNAI: Over the past few days, a video from the 2022 World Cup has been going viral. No, it's not of a spectacular goal or skill, or indeed anything happening on a football pitch. It starts with a Qatari looking at the camera and exclaiming 'Someone tell me this is normal!'. Then, he beckons the viewer to the scene unfolding behind him, a group of Japanese fans collecting garbage from the seats.
On Wednesday, Japan's football team had most of the world cheering for them as they fought their way to a come-from-behind victory over Germany. But they were far from the first people from their country to win hearts in Doha. The exemplary behaviour of Japanese fans after the opening ceremony, repeated again on Wednesday, has everyone standing up and applauding.
Of course, this was far from the first time the footballing world has witnessed this scene. Four years ago, when the world's biggest party was in Russia, it was the Japanese fans who were helping the hosts clean up their stadiums. Their example had earned much praise then, with Senegal fans deciding that it was a good example to follow and cleaning up the stadiums after their matches. Japan's run in the tournament ended with a poignant scene. After the Samurai Blue lost to Belgium in the last sixteen, thanks to a 94th-minute goal from Nacer Chadli, their fans had every right to sulk and vent out their disappointment. Instead, they stayed back and cleaned the stadium one last time.
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This was not the first time this had caught the world's eye. In 2014, there were multiple reports of Japanese fans cleaning out stadiums in Brazil.
This would hardly come as a surprise to those who are familiar with the Japanese way of life — cleanliness is a much-emphasised part of their culture with schools including it in their curriculum as a subject. Shintoism — their indigenous religion — places a lot of importance on purification rituals and equates being impure or unclean with sinning. Their historical love for cleanliness has now been institutionalised through rules and regulations — you could get fined up to ten million yen for littering in Japanese streets!
And, with every World Cup they go to, Japanese fans carry this habit over and provide an example for the rest of the world to follow. It is perhaps little surprise that only the Germans were unhappy to see them win in Doha on Wednesday.