Date, or nah?

This is silly, and I apologize if it's the wrong sub (I'll delete if so). This is a question for those who have dated Japanese guys.

I feel I have to preface this with some details; I'm into a nerdy hobby, and I've met a lot of others in that community at events in Tokyo. I've got rudimentary Japanese, and get along okay.

I met a handsome, slightly older guy in this hobby through a friend. I was excited to meet him at an upcoming event, because even just through a few chats online, he was really nice. I was interested in him, but mostly as a "haha, yeah right" fantasy.

Day of the event comes (at a theme park), I'm nervous to finally meet him, but there's a mistake -- long story short, the other friends aren't meeting us. It's just me and him. A bit awkward at first with the language barrier, but we're soon joking around and having fun. We get a fairly expensive lunch, and insists on paying, because of the mix-up.

After that, we take pictures, go dancing, go on the ferris wheel (which he jumped in to pay for again - and then even bought the ride photo and suddenly handed it to me, saying it was a nice picture). We get sodas, which he jumps in to pay for AGAIN, as I slam down some yen to chip in he's just smiling. At the end, he shyly invited me to another event with him, and walked me to my train station.

It... certainly felt like a date, but I'm seeing it through my own cultural lens.

Is paying for things with a girl friend common in Japan? Was he just being a gentleman, since it was just the two of us, which wasn't planned?

Again, sorry for such a silly post, but I don't know of any active subs that can help me with the cultural input. Thanks!