I can only really answer your first question. While not geographically the same, I have tried logging on from Hong Kong to my server (NA) before, and the lag was enough to annoy me. Meanwhile my BF plays on NA servers from Brazil, and he has to use things like WTFast and PingZapper to make it playable lag-wise for him. When he doesn't have that, he notices that he'll often get hit by telegraphs in battle that he sees his character get out of, but the server disagrees, or problems with casting, etc...

If NA servers were an option for you, would timezone differences be a factor for you as well?