Japanese men are being accused of displaying double standards when it comes to domestic chores after male football fans were seen cleaning up stadiums after World Cup matches.
Gender roles in Japanese society have come under renewed scrutiny after a social media post mocked football fans cleaning up stadium rubbish with a message that said "please do it at home", inspired by Tokyo Metro's famous etiquette posters.
The AI-generated spoof of a Metro poster showed a Japanese football fan in national team colours lounging on a sofa while a woman washed dishes. It was accompanied by a message urging men to tackle domestic and care work "at home first".
The post, which has been viewed more than a million times, juxtaposed the image with photographs of Japanese supporters cleaning the stadium after a 14 June match.
Japanese fans drew widespread praise for tidying the stands after the final whistle of their World Cup 2026 match against the Netherlands, which ended in a 2–2 draw.
The "please do it at home" poster also pointed to data showing that Japanese men spend relatively little time on unpaid work such as cleaning, shopping and childcare, while women shouldered most of the burden.
日本人男性によるサッカー場でのゴミ拾いが注目されているようだが、日本人男性の家庭内労働時間は国際的にみても極めて低い水準。まず家の中のケア労働を分担してほしい。 https://t.co/lHY3adqPEC pic.twitter.com/otbuLTDOoT
— Atsuko TAMADA (@atsukotamada) June 16, 2026
"Most of them don't do that at their own home," one commenter wrote under a video on the official World Cup 2026 X account praising the supporters' clean-up effort.
Some users also questioned the selective nature of the behaviour, noting that while fans often clean up after matches at home and abroad, large amounts of litter can still be seen on the streets after major weekend events.
スタジアムをキレイにすることそのものはいいことなので、「家でもやろう」と言いたい。
— Yukiko (@YukikoM) June 16, 2026
カメラのない家の中でも家事を分担できてこそ、本当のイイ男ですよ。
現地では負けてもスタジアムの外で暴れないだけで感謝されるけど。 https://t.co/rP14ItnkBH
ジョシュアやん！！めちゃくちゃわろた https://t.co/RivqoE9whb
Data compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the division of household labour found that Japanese men spend among the least amount of time on unpaid care work among developed economies.
Across the OECD's 34 member countries, the average Japanese man spent 6.3 hours a day in paid work and just 1.5 hours on household chores. Japanese women, meanwhile, shoulder a dual burden of paid work and unpaid care, devoting around three hours a day to employment and 3.3 hours to household tasks and childcare.
A more recent Japanese government study conducted in 2021 put men's unpaid work at just 51 minutes a day, compared with three hours and 24 minutes for women.
