Anthropology is not limited to the study of undeveloped or non-industrialized cultures. Wherever there are people, there are topics of anthropological interest to be explored. East Asia has a great variety of ethnic groups and massively shifting political and sociological forces.
In fact, since it is arguably the most densely populated and diverse geographic region, I can't think of another part of the world that might offer MORE opportunities for cultural research than East Asia. Particularly with your language abilties, I think you would have a wider range of career opportunities than someone whose specialty was, say, Central Africa, Northern Europe or Oceania. With the huge and prospering populations of East Asia, even consumer goods manufacturers are likely to seek the advice of Anthropologists in marketing their products.
In fact the global engineering company that I work for has full time Anthropolgists in departments that deal with issues around native peoples rights and perceptions in countries where we have large scale projects.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.