Why do a vast majority of Asians have poor vision and need glasses/contacts?
More often then not, it is usually do to technology in the vast majority of people, not just Asians. Looking at a computer screen/tv/book all day is extremely bad for your eyes and within just a few years of doing such a habit continuously you will need glasses badly. However that just deals with nearsightedness and farsightedness. Astigmatisms are more genetic and deal with your eyes miss growing into an odd shape as you get old(and continuing to do so, usually through the rest of your life). That is my observation on it. The only other major contributing factor would be diet, but as far as I am aware most Asians eat a fair amount of vegetables containing eye healthy vitamins and minerals so that should only occasionally be the reason.