By Coco Kubota
Tokyo -Your friend has cancelled a dinner date at a restaurant you have been wanting to try for a long time, do you keep the reservation and dine solo or go home hungry?
More and more single Japanese women are not afraid of dining alone and are asking for a table for one. An increasing number of them even prefer having a meal at a restaurant solo.
It is a surprising change for a society known traditionally as a group-oriented culture. Japanese women, especially, have had an image of being dependent on men.
'It's practically a crime not to be with friends' "We recently have been having more women coming alone for dinner. It is a new phenomenon," said Takaji Higaki, general manager at Tanto Tanto, a popular Italian restaurant in Tokyo's downtown Shibuya district.
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Higaki said those solo diners are mainly single women in their late 20s and early 30s who come after work for pasta and a glass of wine.
"Eating by yourself on a Friday evening, when it's practically a crime not to be with friends, can be fun. After working hard for a day, I need the selfish luxury of a table for one," said 32-year-old Maki Ohara.
Since more women than ever before are suffering from job-related stress, they tend to spend their disposable income on services that cater to the body and mind.
A Japanese government's quality-of-life survey showed that 52,6 percent of female respondents said they were affected by stress, compared with 45,1 percent of men.
'I need the selfish luxury of a table for one' Men are scaling back their spending amid the recession, women in contrast, are spending even more, a reflection of the increased number of workng women and their changing lifestyles.
According to a government survey, the number of working women in Japan totalled 21,68 million in 2001, up by just over one percent from the previous year.
The individual female customer is becoming a force that restaurants, even fancy ones, cannot ignore amid the prolonged recession, experts say.
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