I have read this thread with great interest, there were many things I was aware of which the thread has confirmed.
Would it not be better to say that the Japanese have tried to copy the western idea
of meeting a partner and fulling in love, yet as love has not been part of relationships in the past the Japanese partner still uses the same selection process when deciding to marry and calling it love.
The Japanese person in the relationship still expects the same things in the marriage as if they were married to a Japanese, problems only appear when the western partner feels un-loved by their Japanese partner and then asks questions.
Only to find that the reasons the Japanese partner gives for marrying the foreigner is based more on the persons ability to be a good provider or mother than a lover.
So it could be said that the Japanese have changed from arranged marriages to personal selection marriages and then labelling it as a love marriage.