Do I look Japanese?

Well according to the Japanese in Japan, I do. But I don't think I look Japanese, and no one at least in Canada has mistaken me to be Japanese. To every shop I went, and even at the tourist spots (where obviously foreigners are the norm, especially in Tokyo), the employees would assume I was Japanese (or a Japanese tourist) and try to talk to me in Japanese. Even the the lady at the convenie in Utoro who gave me directions to the campsite thought I was Japanese, was surprised when I told her I was Canadian, and then indicated to me that I looked Japanese (I think I already mentioned that before haha). And it doesn't stop there: I was actually approached by Japanese tourists for directions (even when I had my day pack with the Canadian flag on it) in Sapporo, Kyoto, and Amanohashidate! Even the Japanese tourists I met in Tottori were surprised to learn I wasn't Japanese. If I wasn't wearing my day pack or my camera (ie. not looking like a complete tourist), while walking the streets of Susukino in Sapporo at night, the promoters of the girl clubs would approach me on the street as if I was any other Japanese man (they don't approach foreign tourists). In my opinion, it sucked that I looked like a Japanese to them, because I missed out on all the extra extended assistance the Japanese provide to noticeable foreigners (eg. if you're white). Of course, that also meant I didn't get stared at sometimes in places where the Japanese still aren't used to that many foreigners, but to me that's nothing. I heard so many stories from other backpackers I met in Japan (all white by the way) about how they were approached on the street by Japanese people, asked if they spoke English and could spare some time conversing in English (so that the Japanese people could practise their English with a native speaker), and then were treated to things the normal tourist in Japan would not get to experience (like being taken out to a nice Japanese dinner for free - I spoke to a guy who was even treated to a free Kobe beef dinner(!) - or given a personal tour of the local Japanese person's home city). And it's not like the ones who were approached even had to do anything special or go out of their way to help the Japanese practise their English - the Japanese person would either just follow the backpacker wherever he was going, or show the backpacker some local sights around town (which most backpackers prefer to the heavily developed tourist attractions). So of course looking like a Japanese person, I was never approached since no one would expect me to be a native English speaker.

And just when I thought it was only the Japanese in Japan that thought I was Japanese, when I got to New Zealand, the hostel I first stayed at in Auckland had a Japanese girl working there, who asked me when we first met "Nihonjin desu ka?" (Are you Japanese?), and again was surprised to learn I wasn't Japanese. By the way, there are a surprising number of Japanese tourists and "working holiday" workers here in New Zealand. I didn't think I'd be hearing so much Japanese (in certain parts) for a while after leaving Japan.