Chinese are solidly classed as Inferiors due to competing with American immigrants to California for gold, being perceived generally as only good (for Americans) when employed on railroads, and of course being "Mongoloid". Koreans would probably be considered the same due to their government's close alignment with the Qing. The Japanese might have escaped with the "Lost Israelite" meme but their Jew-status has been temporarily revoked until they stop speaking Japanese. But a Japanese advisor to MacArthur playing up Japan's historical links with Korea to imply the Koreans are the same people is possible, and I think very likely-- by now the Japanese still present in the RU administration have learned how to play the game, and know that bringing new conquests into the fold is the route to personal enrichment (gotta recoup the property losses of the Imperial Restoration War somehow) and appreciation from the higher-ups.
I've been thinking about this, it definitely looks like Norway is being set up for great things-- but it's hard to see how it could achieve them, since OTL it's done pretty much nothing notable between getting savaged by the Black Death in the 1200s and discovering oil in the 1900s. Norway is the least populous and prosperous of the three Bjorn-lands, and its rival for Scandinavian unity is Sweden, the
most populous and resource-rich. Except TTL we don't just have Sweden, we have
Grand Sweden. So it's not enough for something to seriously wrong in Sweden-- something needs to go seriously right in Norway for the Swedes and Danes to actually consider giving up their independence to the country that's historically been the plaything that the Swedes and Danes fight over, and for the ensuing union to remain centered in Norway.
Here's some screenshots from "Experiences of War and Nationality in Denmark and Norway, 1807-1815":
View attachment 498116 (p.65)
View attachment 498117(p.241)
View attachment 498119(p. 242)
When Norway's status was up in the air after the Napoleonic Wars and Sweden's crown prince Jean Bernadotte decided he wanted it, the Norwegian government (under the Danish crown prince) was faced with the following problems: 1) having less troops, with less experience 2) Sweden being backed by the Sixth Coalition in return for betraying Napoleon, so it could draw on British and even Russian help if needed. Consequently, the Norwegian strategy wasn't so much to win, but merely to negotiate the terms of surrender. They fought only to keep the conflict going until Sweden gave up and offered to let the Norwegians keep their constitution as long as they submitted to personal union.
What's different TTL? Well, Napoleon won, so Sweden has to recognize Denmark-Norway's unity and Britain can't threaten it either... but then an absolutist king of Denmark went and shit the bed by revoking the constitution whose preservation was OTL Norway's primary war aim in the conflict with Bernadotte. TTL Norway's war is totally different-- they don't have another king besides the Danish one that they can negotiate with, and they actually have English and American (and Swedish) support. Consequently Norway had means and motive to fight a real independence war and came out of it as an American-aligned republic. So Norway's army perhaps has more experience, more motivation, and imports supplies from Britain and America... but even then a lot of the systemic factors that keep Norway weak (not much population, only have so much money for imports) are still present.
Oil exploration (began in Norway in particular
in the 1960s, but hydrocarbons had been found
around the North Sea since the 1850s) might be able to solve the money issue-- we can assume it would start earlier, with RU or English oil companies maybe being willing to finance exploration way earlier than the Swedes were OTL. Once it's found Norway would have the ability to finance big military buildups (which the RU would no doubt support, they want the oil to stay in fascist hands as much as anyone). But Norway still needs hands to hold the weapons and steer the ships-- where to get those? I think Norway would do well to give those volunteers who fought in its independence war citizenship, or at least keep them as mercenaries/a Foreign Legion. England may be the premier supplier here-- American soldiers are needed elsewhere, and 1800s England seems like the kind of poor and unstable place that would export a lot of young men in need of whatever work they can get their hands on.
All that should get Norway to a position of having both military and economic power and all the prestige associated with that, making it seem attractive to anti-monarchist-but-still-conservative radicals in Grand Sweden. The cost, however, is an economy that is in American hands and an army/navy that's half-English. All in all, a rather humorous reversal of Hardrada's invasion.
(p.65) 
(p.241) 
(p. 242)
