It is interesting. I know some local European New Zealander girls that I feel a bit "Japanese" in looks. But they don't have any parents or grandparents that are Asians.
Also I remember someone who had albinism when at secondary school in Hong Kong before I came to NZ. His looks were very "Western" to my mind back then but of course he was as Chinese as everyone else in HK. In general, it is easy to distinguish HK Chinese from others and Japanese are easy to identify, but I have problems distinguishing between some Koreans and northern Chinese, or between Shanghaiese Chinese and Taiwanese.
There are some overlap between N. Chinese and Koreans. As for Taiwanese and Shanghai Chinese, I have no idea how to tell the apart.:)