Asian restaurants usually have all Asians running them, although I'm from the Northeast US where we have lots of Asians, maybe it's different elsewhere? I think maybe the UK has a dearth of East Asians. Actually when they say "Asian" they typically mean Indian and Pakistani.

There's actually a sophisticated semi-underground network of Chinese food workers and laborers, it's a fascinating read: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/13/cooka%C2%80%C2%...

In my city, there are several "Japanese Steakhouses" and pretty much all of them have a staff made up of mostly asian employees.

Once, after our hibachi chef was finished cooking our meal, someone at the table asked him if he was Japanese. He looked around and in a hushed tone said "No, we are all Korean."

Ive noticed almost all sushi places, ramen places, teppenyaki places, etc in San Jose area are primarily owned by Korean businessmen and women (used to work at a few of them back in the day and can confirm at least part of that)

You're right that generally "Asian" would be used more for countries like India/Pakistan than China/Japan/etc. but, at least in the south of England, there's no dearth. Oriental restaurants and takeaways that I've seen have nearly all been run by east Asians (I couldn't 100% say I always know from which country, but imagine largely inline with the cuisine they're serving) - in Oxford, London, Cambridge, Peterborough, Northampton.. and that's been my same experience pretty much anywhere else I've been in the UK. But could well be different up north for example.