Ofcourse none of the Nintendo characters would exist without Japan...
But... to be fair... they probably wouldn't exist without America either.
Donkey Kong, as in the arcade machine, HAD to appeal to the US market.
Nintendo were in serious trouble back then.
If DK had flopped, Nintendo might well have gone under and Mario would never have became Mario. Thus Yoshi might have never existed.
Martinet and Miyamoto have met many times in person, and apparently get along rather well despite the language barrier. Martinet has actually been Mario's official voice since 1991 when Nintendo set up the "Mario in Real Time" CG animated system where Charles' face was covered in motion sensors. He would act, and his expressions would appear on a CG Mario on a screen, able to talk to an audience and answer its questions. I have seen Martinet actually acting and I am amazed at the mans talent. He can do everything from serious buisness promotional videos to slapstick commercials. But the expression and enthusiasm he displays is out of this world. Reading interviews with him about Mario and Nintendo is always both entertaining and interesting.
Anyway, from that point on, Martinet 'became' Mario and vice versa. He has Nintendo's 100% approval (otherwise they wouldn't have kept working with him for 13 years!). That includes Nintendos former President, Hiroshi Yamauchi who has rather a reputation if you know what I mean.
More importantly, Miyamoto loves it. Martinet is a joker and has been known (as mentioned in interviews) to call out "Papa!" In Mario's voice whenever he meets Miyamoto.
Because of the experience with the "Mario in Real Time" system, even Mario's face tries to emulate some of the expression Charles put into him.
So he's not just the voice actor. He's an import core element to who Mario is now.
This also applies to Luigi, Wario, Baby Mario and Waluigi.
Imagine playing Luigi's Mansion. Think of Luigi's character. Now, in that game Luigi has more expression than any Mario character has ever been given. The whole game is about his expressions, especially when he's scared. But subconciously, Charles is the one doing the humming, the whistling and the shouts for "Maaariooo!" with quite a variety of emotions.
If Luigi's voice was ripped from that game, Luigi would still look afraid, but his character would be left decidedly empty in comparison.
A~~~nyway, yes, he is just the voice, but most of Mario's personality is defined by that voice. You have talked about these characters displaying Japanese influences, but like what? (really, I'd like to know)
In the games, Mario or Yoshi don't really have personalities defined into them that way.
All you really have is their in-game animations, and there isn't really anything in there that I haven't seen from other games or cartoons which have come from either the US or Europe, so its hard for me to say there is anything truely definitive.
Now, Yoshi on the other hand is voiced by a Japanese gentlemen, though as far as I know it was filtered gibberish rather than actual words. The important issue of the voice was to make him a very happy, cheerful care free character. His animations are keyed to do the same. But those aren't exactly Japanese exclusive traits, are they?
Of course, I don't know the Japanese mind set, but that's because I'm not Japanese. There are ofcourse certain poses and behaviours which are considered very Japanese like... say the way Japanese characters often seem to scratch the back of their head and laughing nervously when caught out in something.
As an animation/character, that is usually a very Japanese thing. Though truth be told, I've done that in real life long before I ever knew what anime was, or having seen it. (ie, when I was very young) so I can't think "only a Japanese person could think or do that kind of pose"
Anyway, I'll concede that its likely for Yoshi to have elements of a Japanese personality. So long as we're happy in agreeing he's not full-on Japanese only personality, then I don't think we have a problem here.
Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi on the other hand, that's more open to debate since a large chunk of their personality is defined by an ever youthful, cheerful American actor talking in an Italian accent. (as it happens, ever youthful and cheerful are words used to describe Mario's personality very often)
Or rather I don't see any specific Japanese personality about them.
Or to quote him:
Oh, and it doesn't hurt to repeat yourself sometimes
;"
