This reminds me of talking with a Japanese boy (20 years old) about arranged marriage. He was very surprised that in Europe arranged marriage is a really rare sight. The he asked "But what about men who can't find a wife? Don't the parents do anything about it?" And I told him that in most cases parents don't meddle in the love affairs of their grown up children and that it's best if the man finds someone on his own. He was really surprised and I was surprised by his reaction. I've been thinking arranged marriage is only found in Muslim countries and not in a such a developed country like Japan.
However, I've been talking to other Japanese guys and they said that love is not important in a marriage and that number one priority in a marriage for Japanese girls is how much money their husband earns *yuk*. 本当に,this country is socially lagging behind. Before coming to Japan I didn't know that most of japanese society is so sick. I mean I really enjoy living here and many Japanese people are very nice and polite and I respect their culture and customs BUT don't you think that something very important is missing in their life. There is more to life than work and money. However, they seem to be very happy with it (ignoring all the people who committed suicide).

@crystallize:yeah you've got the western concept of marriage. Marriage in Japan doesn't mean that you love each other and have sex for fun purpose. I remember hearing that they (husband and wife) lead a life like brother and sister. Visiting prostitutes than sleeping with his wife is very common in Japan.
Japanese women change after getting married as I heard from some male sources ^^#. At the beginning they're really cute and passionate (not all though) but then they turn into viragos and order their husbands around and losing interest (if they had any before).Some are even appalled by touching their husband's underwear when putting it into the washing machine.
Japanese women is a funny topic anyway. They seem to be so obsessed with looking good (mostly kawaii than sexy) that anything else which happens in the world and the people around become indifferent. So I would say that it's going to be worse for "distressed in japan" after some years of marriage.