It's fake. He pauses a little differently from a Japanese person with a decent command of English and a strong accent IMO. It seems like he's trying too hard to sound Japanese. But otherwise his Japanese accent is pretty much spot on.
guess this is not a fake or joke, adapting children from overseas would not so rare as though a couple of decades ago, say, brad pitt or penelope cruz or.. you name it!.
From this point of view why can we exclude japan from this rule.
While there's a small possibility that this guy is for real, I'm inclined to think otherwise. It sometimes seems like he's doing a bad imitation of Hiro Nakamura from Heroes >_>
And in his description for his response video to Rosie O'Donnell's slur against Asian languages, he wrote, "I am usually sweet and warm hearted like a small rabbit or kitten..." I mean, come on. He can't be serious.
Well, if there was any doubt at all that this guy was pulling our leg, it is totally clear to me from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1o7tDCSr70&NR=1
that he is a native English speaker. His syntax is almost faultless... No Japanese would use this syntax if they only had the kind of exposure to English that he claims.
Interestingly, I don't think he is American. German? - I don't think so, I think he is a native English speaker... Perhaps Canadian, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this guy is an Australian or New Zealander..
His Japanese is really good, but not native. There is a clear interference from foreign (most probably English) sounds in some of his vowels in Japanese.And he often pronounces English vowels with the kind of loose lack of tension typical of native English speakers and not of Japanese.
He tends to either speak loudly in cliches in Japanese (such as greetings) or mumble Japanese. He never speaks for long in Japanese... Whereas, he speaks in syntactically complex English for long periods of time with no perceptible errors (e.g. when talking about Rosie O'Donnell)- other than the deliberate errors in English he makes in introductory remarks or shorter statements.
These "errors" are a parody of Japanese speakers when speaking English. The crude errors he makes at these times do not match with the ability he demonstrates with complex syntax elsewhere.His sentences on the above link go on forever. No Japanese with such a stereotyped accent in English could sustain such long sentences and such diverse vocabulary, with no errors in choice of conjunction, verb endings, and peculiarly Anglo idioms. He says:
"I'm actually... now, I'm not in a bad mood, but I have been very irritated today and yesterday because somebody sent me a link on YouTube of... do you know Rosie O'Donnell? She has [ ] American television program called "The View", and in The View she talks about Chinese people - [ ] Chinese language sounds like ching chong..."
The square brackets indicate his, I think, deliberate omission of "a" and "the", yet he very idiomatically says "in a bad mood", "sent me a link" without batting an eyelid.
Later he says: "I think it's very rude, and offensive, and stupid because it's... Chinese language does not sound like ching chong ching... To me, it sounds... if I want to imitate Chinese I will say, 'Oh, Chinese language sounds like Wo shuo ker yi di you tjahr, ke shi wo mei you mei ching.' and... 'cos, to me, that is how Chinese language sounds. But I think, Rosie O'Donnell, she does not think that, really, that Chinese language sounds like ching chong ching... she is just using [ ] old stereotype to explain her feelings. And if... I'm not Chinese, eh to, I'm [ ] Japanese native... uh, I am a Japanese-speaking person, but if I was [ ] Chinese speaker, I would be very angry and mad and upset. So, I think, I would like to tell... er, if Rosie O'Donnell is watching this: 'Stop! Shut up! You're not qualified to make fun of Chinese people's language!'"
I could point to so many things, such as when he uses the indefinite article correctly and then incorrectly omits it side by side: "I am a Japanese-speaking person, but if I was [ ] Chinese speaker"
If you need any more proof of this guy's talent to imitate others' languages, just listen to his version of how Chinese sounds. He's definitely studied Chinese. Don't you just love his use of the pronoun "wo", "I", and the conjunction "ke shi" "however, but", and then "wo mei you" "I don't have", all used in their correct places in Chinese syntax. Not to mention some other Chinese structures he uses.
To sum up, in my opinion, there is no way he is not a native English speaker. What a con man!
It's good fun, so long as he doesn't ask for money or otherwise take unfair advantage of others.
Hes soooooo fake. If his real parents had any other name than Smith I might have believed him but Smith is the most generic name in America. It's sort of funny, but might be insulting towards Japanese as he's obviously making fun of the way some Japanese speak english.
Pakuman> just because his parents name is the most common/typical name in America and his name is the most common/typical in Japan isnt value enough to say he is fake.
his accent and attitude is though. I agree with Chan.