Dave Spector

is an American ''gaijin tarento'', television producer, author, and actor based in Japan. Originally from Chicago, he moved to Japan in 1983 after visiting as a producer with the American television program '' Ripley's Believe It or Not!''. He appears regularly as a commentator on several different Japanese television programs, including a Wednesday spot on Fuji TV's daily morning news program '' Tokudane!'', and TBS's weekly ''Sunday Japon''.

Early life and education

As a child, Dave Spector appeared in American TV commercials, including one for cereal manufacturer Kellogg Company. He says that he first became interested in all things Japanese in the fifth grade at elementary school when he made friends with an immigrant classmate from Japan, Michael Sugano. As a gesture of friendship, he tried to speak Japanese to him by saying "Where is the post office?" in Japanese. His friend was impressed and moved by that gesture and particularly praised Dave's Japanese pronunciation. He soon became interested in Japanese '' manga'' which his friend owned. As he desired to understand Japanese ''manga'', he began taking Japanese lessons once a week at the Japanese school his friend attended every Sunday. He stated in his autobiography that he learned 50 new Japanese words every day, eventually becoming capable of comprehending serialized Japanese ''manga'' such as '' Obake no Q-tarō'' and ''Ashita no Joe''. He later joined Japanese weekend classes with other Japanese children, eventually becoming the class president of the graduating class. He astonished the Japanese-American community by winning the Chicago Japanese speech contest hosted by the Chicago Japanese community, the first person of non-Japanese descent to do so. The title of his speech was "The Life and Suicide of Yukio Mishima". Spector studied at Sophia University in Tokyo, before returning to America a year later. After returning to Chicago, he enrolled at the Institute of Broadcast Arts.

Career

Spector moved to Japan in 1983 to research exotic film clips from Japanese television to be used on the American TV show '' Ripley's Believe It or Not!''. While this work continued until ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' ended in 1986, Spector became well known in Japan after becoming a regular guest on Fuji TV's lunchtime TV variety show ''Waratte Iitomo!'' in 1984, alongside other foreign personalities such as Canadian Kent Derricott, American Kent Gilbert, and Guinean . He described his work at the time as " ing things like the lowest Bozo, circus kind of stuff. But it doesn't bother me at all. A lot of times the foreigners on TV, models and what-not, are compared to pandas. They use that term here—pandas—because they're cuddly, you can go and have fun with them, and throw a marshmallow and that's about it. And you don't get involved any more deeper than that. But ... since I'm making half a million dollars a year, I'm very happy to be a panda." Due to his fluency in Japanese, he also developed career as a serious commentator on Anglo-American culture and events. He became a regular commentator on foreign news and established the Tokyo-based Spector Communications in 1988, which he used to obtain clippings or video grabs from foreign media to use for his commentary role. He is ranked as one of the most, and in some years the most, well regarded commentator in Japan for all age groups according to Oricon survey. In reference to his success in Japan, he stated that "I set a goal early on to be different from other gaijin tarento oreign TV personalitiesby trying to compete with Japanese rather than with other foreigners."

Personal life

Spector is married to , a native of Chiba Prefecture, whom he met in the US.

Filmography

* '' Nihon Igai Zenbu Chinbotsu'' (2006)
* ' (2008)
* ''One Missed Call'' (2008)

Television work

* ''Waratte Iitomo!'' (Fuji TV, 1984 – ?)
* '' Tokudane!'' (Fuji TV, 1999 – present)
* (NTV, July 2001 – present)
* ( TBS, October 2002 – present)
* (NTV, April 2008 – present)
* '' J-Melo'' (NHK World)

Publications

* (Shueisha, June 1986, )
* (Goma Shobo, September 1986, )
* (Heibonsha, November 1986, )
* (Shinchosha, April 1987, )
* (Shinchosha, December 1988, )
* (Goma Shobo, December 1988, )
* (Nesco, October 1989, )
* (Goma Shobo, November 1997, )
* (Dobunshoin, September 1998, )
* (Gentosha, June 2011, )

His wife, Kyoko, wrote the following book about him:

* (Tokyo Shoseki, July 2013, )

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spector, Dave
1954 births
American expatriates in Japan
American television personalities
Expatriate television personalities in Japan
Living people
People from Chicago
Sophia University alumni