The simple act of cleaning up after yourself.
It’s the sign of a good house guest or well-raised children, but what about when “yourself” is thousands of screaming sports fans, and “cleaning up” is half of a soccer stadium?
Well then it’s a sign of something much deeper—plain to see for attending supporters and spectators alike in the FIFA World Cup Match in Dallas between The Netherlands and Japan on June 14th.
The first half was a drab affair, with the rigors of a long regular season plain to see in the legs of many of the Dutch players who play at the highest levels of the European club game. Though the contest came alive in the second half, finishing 2-2 with goals from Premier League stars Virgil Van Dijk and Daichi Kamada, it was what happened after the final whistle that made headlines.
Hundreds of the Japanese traveling fans—famous for adding color and character to the FIFA World Cup—began to clean their end of the stadium. Someone pulled out some trash bags, and soon they were picking up cups, wrappers, and anything else left among the seats.
Further still, the Japanese national team players even left their locker room spotless—with no one telling or asking them to do so. For all that a player representing their country on the biggest stage has to worry about, they didn’t allow themselves to forget their manners.
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“It’s kind of a habit or natural, I guess,” said Nina Shimaguchi, with the Japan American Society of Dallas-Fort Worth, told CBS News 11. “The Japanese education system, we don’t have custodians from elementary to high school, so we have to take care of hallways, restrooms.
“Through the game, probably many people see, ‘Oh that’s the culture,’” she said. “And that’s the next step of people trying to learn, trying to know…That kind of positivity remains.”
Japan will play Mexico this Saturday before returning to Dallas for their final group-stage match in a bid to qualify for the first of the knock-out rounds.
WATCH the story below from CBS…
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