Japanese World Cup fans praised for stadium cleanups, criticized for housework

For years, Japanese football fans have won praise for cleaning up stadiums after World Cup matches. But this time, they're catching heat at home.

When photos emerged this week of Japanese fans combing the stands with trash bags after a match, some saw a double standard: men who clean after themselves in public while leaving the burden at home to their wives.

A Japanese poster went viral soon after, juxtaposing a man picking litter at the stadium with the same guy reclined on a sofa at home, using his phone near a basket of laundry while his wife did the dishes.

Men in Japan should "pitch in more at home" as their time spent doing chores is among the shortest in the world, the poster text read.

"Everyone wants to save the world, but no one wants to help mom do the dishes," an X user commented, referencing a quote by American author PJ O'Rourke.

"There's probably a guy among these people picking up trash, who has a young kid at home and left his wife to look after them to come watch the World Cup," wrote another.

According Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data from 2021, Japanese women spend more than three hours per day on unpaid work - more than five times that of men, who clock 47 minutes a day.

This disparity is especially pronounced in young families. A government survey from 2021 found that in dual-income households with children under six years old, women spend more than seven hours a day on household chores while men spend less than two hours.

Some social media users have also taken issue with what they see as the hypocrisy of picking up rubbish abroad, when Japan's public spaces are often lined with rubbish after large events.

But as the debate over the division of housework rages, many argue that Japanese fans' signature stadium cleanups should be encouraged, not nitpicked at.