>The absolute biggest thing that I find different is young women going on trips alone. This is incredibly popular and obviously a departure from older culture. My friends who were young when I met them (been here long enough that I don't have any young friends left!) often specifically wanted to travel alone.

I've seen it quite a bit living here - airport buses especially tend to be crammed full of single women going to various places both within and outside of Japan. Coincidentally I've heard this used to explain why you see relatively few Japanese men dating foreigners.