It's faux in the sense that it's made as a three layer laminate of the type called "san mai" in Japan. In the case of the Kaizen, the outer portions are made of a layer of soft pattern welded stainless, and the inner portion -- the part which gets sharpened -- is made of a stronger, harder stainless. With san-mai construction, the outer layers, "hagane" in Japanese, do not do anything (or at least very little) to improve the performance of the inner, "jigane." Their purpose is twofold. They are decorative and make the knife cheaper to manufacture.
"True" Damascus is made by putting two (or more) different types of steel alloys (each with differing properties) and folding them over and over until the folded alloys exhibit the best properties of both.
Some manufacturers claim that san-mai construction makes a knife easier to sharpen, and more durable in use; but those claims are highly dubious. On the bad side, a minority of users -- say about 1/3 including me -- notice a "damped" feel when the knife hits the board. A friend of mine likens it to wearing a condom, and I'd say that's apt.
After everything is said and done, if you really like the appearance of the "Damascus" pattern -- which is usually a traditional Japanese pattern called "suminagashi" and translates as "ink on water" -- my advice for most users is to forget about the minor performance differences and get what you like. You're going to live with the knife for a long time, you might as well like the way it looks.
BDL
