They aren't intended to look Caucasian. The belief that they are is generally because of the size and roundness of the eyes.
Firstly, modern Japanese comics, beginning with Tezuka, were heavily influence by early American comics and animation, like Disney, so part of the design does come from that.
Secondly, Japanese artists like to express a lot of emotion using the eyes. Unlike American animation, where there is a lot more vocal expression, anime tends to be more quiet with silent dramatic moments. The emotion of these moments are expressed largely through the eyes, so drawing them bigger than normal, while de-emphasizing other facial features, like the nose, is done to make them more visible to the audience and allow for a greater range of expression.

This is only because some people, particularly in the US have a very stereotypical view of what Japanese or Asian people generally SHOULD look like.
Consequently we continually get stupid posts like this on boards covering Japanese animated films.
Incidently, all Caucasians live in Russia, the term as it is used in the US seems to be mainly an artificial catagorisation that means absolutely nothing.
It could almost be seen as racist if it wasnt being used by people who suppose they are Caucasian`.
"Any plan that involves losing your hat is a BAD plan."
"

As a Eurasian (Chinese-Spanish/Irish) I have often been jokingly/endearingly told that I look like a Miyazaki/anime cartoon character by my friends (if a stranger said this it'd perhaps come off as ignorant, admittedly), conversely I have also been 'mistaken' or attributed to a number of other ethnic identities, including Hawaiian, Native American, Italian, Greek, not to mention being thought of as wholly Chinese/Spanish/Irish etc.
My point being, depending on the individual we can see the same things very differently.
I think this supports the comments that the characters are drawn to have the most international appeal, while simultaneously fitting into none/many ethnic groups.

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I find that it makes the characters easier to relate to if they have a generic appearance<
That's just my point. Why do we assume a generic look is Caucasian? I would think people of Asian descent would feel the Asian look to be more generic.

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