Anyone, who has followed the World Cup knows surely how Japan surprised the football world by winning both giants Germany and Spain in the group stage. The team does not have any superstars, but strong team spirit and uniform tactics were a key to the great results. Unfortunately, the fight ended in the round of 16 in penalty shootout.
The Japan supporters were always depicted as a happy, supportive group throughout the whole competition. Western media was amazed with behavior, where they cleaned the stadium prior to leaving.
The penalty takers against Croatia were selected on voluntary basis. After the loss coach Moriyasu was sad because this had created extra pressure and negative feedback afterwards to players. He feels he should have stepped up and taken the responsibility himself as a coach. After the last game the news were spreading a photo of coach Moriyasu taking a deep bow to Japan team supporters to show respect on them coming all the way to Qatar to support their team. Captain Yoshida had said that coach Moriyasu also had bid farewell to each player from their hotel to the airport, departing to various locations around the world. All of the above are good examples that despite globalization, there are still very distinct features in Japanese culture, that need to be taken into account in co-operation.