[glowsilver]

On the original subject:

I'd assume the reason that girls can marry at a younger age than boys is so that they can start having children while young and fertile, and those children will be legitimate. At 16, a girl will have finished middle school (as far as I'm aware it is not mandatory to go to high school in Japan) and if she gets pregnant she stands a chance of the birth not causing her too much damage, whereas a younger girl is more likely to have medical problems because her own body is still developing. Japanese law seems to take the view of children being the main reason to get married - along the same lines, a divorced woman must wait six months before getting married again, so that if she gets pregnant there won't be a question of which husband is the baby's father (Well ... there might be, but that's the idea)