The sport?
It's called
SpoGomi
, which is nothing more than a
garbage collection competition
.
Japan, an advanced country in many matters of respect for cleanliness and order in the streets, will organize the first World Cup for this sports hybrid.
It will be in November on the streets of Tokyo.
Actually, the very name that they gave to this activity (SpoGomi) comes from the mixture of two names: “
sport” and “gomi”
(which in Japanese means garbage).
For what would be a sport modality where teams of 3 to 5 people face each other to try to collect the greatest amount of garbage (yes, of the highest quality possible) in a given period of time, according to the Gizmodo
site
.
A sign that
Japan is an example of respect for cleanliness
is usually seen in massive stadium events, where the Japanese can be seen staying after the event to collect the garbage that accumulated in the stadium.
A file image of a man compacting and separating garbage in Japan.
(Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
So it's no surprise that Japan is the first country to host its world cup in November of this year.
20 teams from all over the world will participate
,
going through the streets of Tokyo in search of garbage to collect.
The SpoGi¡omi regulations provide that each team will have 60 minutes to collect the largest amount of garbage from a designated area while trying to
correctly classify it into color-coded bags for each type
(combustible waste, recyclable plastic, metal cans, etc.).
Once the time is up, the judges will evaluate what was collected by weighing the garbage and checking it to classify it correctly.
Finally, the team with the most trash wins.
Participants must wear heavy-duty cleaning gloves that allow them to pick up just about “any kind of trash without feeling gross,” as well as tongs to pick up trash while standing.
At the start of the competition, everyone must yell “Picking up trash is a sport!”
to then go running to their assigned areas.
Campaigns to reduce plastic and metal pollution are common in Japan.
(Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
SpoGomi ambassador and Olympic swimming medalist,
Takeshi Matsuda
, explained the spirit of the game during a press conference in Tokyo: "Picking up trash can be fun if you turn it into a game to compete. Anyone can participate, regardless of age. and sex. We think it's important to collect trash in cities because there's been a sharp increase in the amount of waste in the oceans around the world, so it's better if we can collect that trash before it reaches the ocean."
The competition is supported by large companies in Japan.
For example, Fast Retailing Co., which operates
Uniqlo clothing stores
, will donate $2 million for the event.
Beyond encouraging people to keep public spaces clean, it is a tradition in Japan, which has been organizing competitions in the country since 2008, the year in which SpoGomi, a "clean sport", emerged
.
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