Japan fans tidy Qatar stadium, players leave ‘thank you’ note after beating Germany

Not content with showing Germany up on the pitch, Japan’s jubilant World Cup fans gave global viewers a lesson on citizenship after their team’s opening match.

As the European giants of soccer trudged off the pitch following their 2-1 defeat, fans of the victorious Japanese team were already tidying up after themselves, shoving trash into bags and making sure they left the stadium as clean as the moment they arrived.

And it wasn’t just the fans. FIFA posted a picture to Twitter showing the Japanese changing room at the Khalifa International Stadium. Towels were neatly folded and placed in piles next to stacked bottles of water and 11 origami cranes accompanied a note in Japanese that simply read “thank you.”

Germany’s shock defeat by Japan is the second major upset of the tournament and drove up a slew of Japanese stocks, from video game makers to sporting goods firms.

Saudi Arabia’s win over a stunned Argentina late in their match on Tuesday earned the entire Middle Eastern nation a national holiday.

Agencies