Opinions on Japan and the Japanese people from the perspective of an outsider.
One of those brainy professors on tonight’s HONMADEKKA!?TV (ホンマでっか！？TV) on Fuji Television claimed that Japanese university students that find themselves unable to eat alone on campus turn to a place where they can’t be spotted while they shamefully eat alone. This practice is called Benjo-meshi (便所飯) which translates into “bathroom/toilet/lavatory/wc meals.”
Students who don’t want to be seen eating alone duck in the crapper for a few minutes and eat (hopefully while not using the toilet at the same time, but no one can be for sure, right?). According to a poll, 45.1% of university students don’t want to be seen eating alone. And this phenomenon is nothing new, this has been practiced for at least 17 years now.
So, what’s so bad about eating alone? you might ask. Well, one thing that is very important to the Japanese is the “group mindset”. Those who are not within a group, be it within the workplace or at school, are looked down upon as not being functioning members of society. The intense pressure to belong drives those who are without peers to do some pretty ridiculous stuff, like eating on the john.
Personally, the group mindset is one of the things I dislike about Japanese society. It makes it hard to reach a decision, whether it be a business decision at work or deciding where to go out to eat with a group of friends.
