Cleaning up: Japan and Senegal fans celebrate victory and defeat differently at the World Cup

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Cleaning up: Japan and Senegal fans celebrate victory and defeat differently at the World Cup

  • The Blue Samurai fans pulled out large litter bags to clean up their section of the stadium after the match.
  • This gained widespread appreciation online and offline.
  • Taking inspiration from Japan, the Senegal fans did the same after their match.
Any massive sports tournament brings together people from all across the world. Right now, that’s what is happening in Russia. The country is hosting the 2018 football World Cup and that means that fans from all the participating countries are present there.
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So many fans and so much celebration only means one thing - an opportunity to learn from other cultures. A pretty neat example of this cultural exchange happened recently thanks to the fans from Japan and Senegal who got the whole world applauding what they did.

Japan beat Colombia by 2-1 in a heated match and secured its first victory ever against a South American side on Tuesday. This called for celebrations and to mark their presence, the Blue Samurai fans pulled out large litter bags that they had brought along and marched through the rows to clean up their section of the stadium.

The Japanese fans had done the same thing in Brazil four years ago when they had lost against the Ivory Coast. This gained widespread appreciation across different nations both online and offline because of the generosity and kindness displayed through the act.

Post any match, the stadium is usually left littered with cups, wrappers, torn banners and food - the Japanese fans took it upon themselves to change that.

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This gesture was also seen as a symbol of the pride that the Japanese have for their culture.

Scott North, professor of sociology at Osaka University, told BBC that cleaning up after a football match is normal practice in Japan. He added that the Japanese are taught to clean up from their early childhood. The frequent reminders and instructions given to them right from the early stages of their life turns it into a habit.

Interestingly, the other country that took to cleaning up after seeing what Japan did was Senegal. Despite losing to Poland 1-2 on Tuesday, the fans made sure that they cleaned their half of the stadium.

The kind gesture from both the countries helped the 15,000 World Cup volunteers who usually do the cleaning up post the matches. Japan and Senegal are to play each other on 24 June, and if the trend continues, the volunteers can probably put their feet up and rest it out that day.



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