Japanese people has to learn ‘How to embrace solitude’? #1

There is a news report from Nikkei Japan on Oct 15^th of 2020, it is about the family allocation of Japan in the coming 20 years. The report reflected a result that from now, the society shall put the spotlight on Single family instead, because the percentage of it seems to be going up to one-third of the overall family types at the year of 2040.

See the news clip the following.

That is why there are more eat-alone restaurants and entertainment facilities in Japan.

However, as a foreigner, if you ask me, I think I can’t 100% agree that this is the only reason for when there is an aggressive growth of single families in a society, it has a bigger need to create more solo-services for themselves. In my mind, normally a human being shall go out for friends’ gathering, go dating or have happy hours with beloved family and friends. Hum…at least I do and this is the way I grew up. Anyway, we should not ignore that and also have to adapt if we plan to stay long in Japan.

Who was the first one who brought in this eat-alone idea?

Kyoto University and Kobe University were the first two schools who created and delivered an eat-alone atmosphere and space to their students since 2012. They thought that was a good idea to provide students a comfortable place with privacy while eating at the canteen. That means even if they sit with a stranger at the opposite, the special design can help them to avoid eye-contact from the opposite via a partition setting in between them, so that either of them can concentrate on their foods and stuff.

This is the canteen seating in the university, do you like the idea of partition setting?