The culture of singles in Japan - who benefits from it? (7 photos)
Can you imagine that we have a separate subculture of singles? And a subculture of families with one child? It's just a social group. But in Japan, it's different, singles are a subculture with their own set of values, jokes and characteristic habits. 
What is bocci
The word bocci is an abbreviation of hitoribocci, from hitori (one person) and bocci, a word said to come from houshi (Buddhist priest). Bocci can be used to express sadness from loneliness, but it can also be used in a humorous, self-deprecating way. 
They sell curtains like these for lonely girls so that thieves think they have a man
At one time, they even thought that the word "bocci" (loneliness) could be made the word of the year in Japan. But they didn't make the problem worse. Nevertheless, the word "bocci" is added to almost everything in Japan: bocchi nomi (drinking alone), bocchi meshi (eating alone), bocchi ramen (eating ramen alone), and kuribocchi (alone at Christmas).
In Japan, Christmas is not a traditional family holiday like in Europe. Here, Christmas is a romantic holiday, similar to Valentine's Day. So calling yourself kuribocchi is a way to emphasize that you are single on the day of love. 
Girls are told not to buy one ice cream, otherwise others will guess that they live alone
People joke about themselves that "bocchi" is their motto in life.
Japan widely supports the bocchi culture. Living and eating out alone is common here, and some restaurants are even designed for quiet, solitary dining.
And various forms of entertainment seek to replace real social connections with paid or virtual substitutes (rental family, rentable companion, AI wife in the speaker). 
You can go to karaoke with a hostess
But behind the frivolity of bocci culture lies an epidemic of loneliness, affecting up to 40% of Japanese people. Long-term loneliness can lead to mental health problems, everyone knows. But everyone can get out of the "bocci pit."
Why do Japanese people cultivate a culture of boccia?
In Japanese cities, single people usually live alone. Living with friends or roommates is unusual, and living with a partner before marriage is even rarer. Even university students find their own apartments when they leave dorms, rather than sharing apartments with their peers. 
I already wrote that girls put men's shoes near the entrance so that robbers know that two people live there and it is dangerous to rob
If you are lonely, you can go to a host bar, where hot guys and hotties will drink and have fun with you for money. For the poor - dating simulator games, where you can have a romantic experience, but pause the game or replay it at any time. The Japanese have a very strong fear of making mistakes
Plus, the Japanese idol industry encourages parasocial relationships between artists and fans. Many fans spend their entire salary on buying CDs, keychains, T-shirts with a star. So they never have money to take a girl on a date or to a cafe. 
A capsule cafe, so you can be alone even in a public place
All this together, brick by brick, builds a wall of loneliness for a person, inside which it is warm and calm, but going outside is incredibly scary.
Statisticians estimate that loneliness affects four out of ten Japanese. 1.46 million are considered socially excluded. In 2021, the Japanese government appointed its first Minister of Loneliness to address this alarming statistic. A whole Minister of Loneliness! Let me remind you that Bhutan has a Ministry of Happiness. And Japan has a Minister of Loneliness… 
A hug pillow for lonely girls. For guys in the shape of knees to sleep on a girl's lap
What I wonder is if South Korea has disfigured social life in the country by hooking everyone on the plastic surgery virus. And large corporations are lobbying for this.
But in Japan, mini-cafes for one are private cafes, like private shops, karaoke booths for one. This is not one big corporation that would benefit from pushing the culture of loneliness in Japan, but small private individuals.
