Japan is witnessing an expansion of businesses catering to solo customers, including restaurants and even karaoke lounges targeting patrons who value privacy and minimal human interaction.

Some ramen noodle shops and yakiniku grilled meat restaurants, which customarily serve families or groups, are switching gears to focus on the individual customer who enjoys dining alone without distractions from staff or other patrons.

Service industry insiders believe the trend reflects an effort to address diversifying consumer tastes amid the country's graying society, declining birthrates and protracted deflation.

"We have devised a way that customers can enjoy ramen without being bothered by others around them looking in their direction. This is especially supported by women," said a spokesperson for the Hakata ramen chain Ichiran Ramen from Fukuoka, northern Kyushu, known for specializing in tonkotsu (pork bone) broth ramen.

Ichiran, founded by president Manabu Yoshitomi, provides solo dining booths separated by wooden panels, obstructing the view of potential neighbors on either side.

When entering the shop customers buy tickets from a vending machine, which allows them to select the type of ramen they wish to order and eat at any vacant booth.

Instead of being escorted to a table by a waiter, customers take their booths alone where they press a call button and present their tickets to a server through a shutter in front of them that remains lowered except when orders are placed and food is served.

Customers also have the option of customizing their orders with various toppings, as well as for degrees of flavor, soup thickness, and even firmness of noodles, with a paper card that is handed to staff through the same screen. Once the dish is ready, the shutter lifts again and the server hands over the ramen bowl.

The company's patented "flavor concentration counter" system was conceived by Yoshitomi in the 1990s. Yoshitomi's main objective became developing an arrangement where customers could be totally engrossed in their food, without worrying about the people around them or who is serving the dishes.

He got the idea for private booths by surveying his customers, discovering that many women shared a similar opinion that they found it difficult to visit ramen shops alone because of their reluctance of being watched by others as they slurp their noodles.

Women are a driving force for the ramen shop these days, making up 40 percent of Ichiran's customer base. There are more than 70 locations in Japan and the business has expanded to Hong Kong, Taiwan and a branch that opened in the United States last fall in the trendy Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

The West Co. restaurant chain has yakiniku grilled meat outlets along the major roads in Fukuoka's Hakata Ward with individual seats for the lone customer. The shops, which provide a lunchtime service, have become popular among salary men and are being frequented by a growing number of women.

"We decided to introduce this because we thought it would be attractive to those who want to eat by themselves," said Masaharu Hagi, the head of the restaurant's general planning office. In the future, West is planning to offer individual seating throughout the restaurant at some of its outlets.

"It's good for when you have something you have to think over or you want to focus on eating," said a 33-year-old male office worker who used the service for the first time.

Singing solo became a trend mainly among young women in the mid-2000s, but now it has thoroughly taken root. Koshidaka Holdings Co., known for its Karaoke Manekineko shops, has been providing "1 kara" solo singing in urban areas such as Tokyo, Osaka, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, and Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, since 2011.

As other karaoke companies vie for business from lone customers, Koshidaka has developed high-fidelity microphones and headphones that allow users to sing their hearts out alone in a sound-proof room.

"We have a high rate of repeat users, and sales continue to grow a steady clip," said a company spokesperson.

Value Golf is a system that allows the user to make reservations alone at golf clubs. Once the customer chooses a schedule on the website, he or she is matched with people who wish to play rounds of golf together during the same period.

There are some 380,000 registered Value Golf members, most of whom are middle aged and elderly men.

"After retirement there are many people who find it difficult to make friends, so there is a lot of potential here," said a person in charge of the service.

Tomoki Inoue, associate analyst at think tank NLI Research Institute familiar with consumer behavior, said the trend toward catering to individual customers is a sign of changing demographics.

"Because people are marrying late and other factors, there has been an increase in single people even among the middle aged and elderly, and this market is growing," said Inoue.

"It's necessary to expand the customer base in segments like the restaurant industry where the competition is fierce, so we believe this tread of welcoming the lone customer will continue."