I have been reading this thread lately since it was brought up again, have noticed the topic has been shifting to all kinds of directions, and it's very interesting.

It seems to me that a religion or one's belief take a huge part of decision making such as marriage, for some people. I'm very new to this idea and kind of makes me wonder if having different religions interferes a relationship in anyway.

Another thing I thought about is the reason why some Japanese men seem rather family oriented and serious than affectionate and romantic might be related to him being the oldest son in the family.

It seems like a lot of Japanese still think that the oldest child is supposed to be resposible for his/her parents and their own family, but it is indeed sad that some of them lose interests in maintaining other importances.