Japan fans continue much admired cleaning tradition after first Women's World Cup game

Japanese football fans have continued their much-admired tradition of cleaning up after themselves in stadiums once a game has finished.

Japan opened their account at the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with a comprehensive 5-0 win over Zambia courtesy of goals from Hinata Miyazawa, Mina Tanaka, Jun Endo and Riko Ueki, to give the 2011 champions an impressive start.

While neutrals will have no doubt been wowed by the Japanese player's talent on the pitch there is always a lot of love for their travelling fans who stayed behind long after many others had left to pick up the rubbish that had been left in the stands.

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Footage showed a small handful of Japanese fans collecting the rubbish in plastic bags at the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, New Zealand without any hesitation or protest.

This will be a very familiar sight to football fans who watched the men's World Cup in Qatar in 2022 where a plucky Japanese team managed to progress from their group, beating Germany and Spain in the process, only to be eliminated by Croatia in the round of 16.

At the time Japanese fans were asked why they choose to clean up after themselves with one person saying: "What we're taught is that leaving things cleaner than the way you found it is atarimae [stating the obvious]. And that we should always express gratitude."

Another added: "What we're taught is that leaving things cleaner than the way you found it is atarimae. And that we should always express gratitude."

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