I’ve played Zelda in Japanese and there’s a difference within the translations themselves on how they name items, NPC’s or key locations within the game. The quest logs in either ToTK & BoTW in the JP original are written from a first person perspective since it’s Link’s personal entries while the ENG localization rewrote them in second person addressing the player.
Even the perspectives are written differently: like from BoTW when you read Revali’s diary, the Japanese text frames it more around personal confusion and wounded pride as to why a prodigy like him is put in a supporting tier beneath Link. While the ENG localization leans into sharper, more confrontational direct insults, playing up a classic western “cocky rival” archetype.
Yes. Nintendo’s game development group (formerly EAD) is based in Japan with the mothership. The localization team may have input and localize it at around the same time in the development cycle, but it’s written in Japanese first.
How the NOA/NOE teams decide to localize it is largely up to them, though I suspect there’s at least a little oversight from headquarters.
Most yes, but not all.
Metroid Prime 4 for example would have been english-first as it’s a Retro Studios title with development support from Next Level Games.