Dave Spector (デーブ・スペクター born May 5, 1954) is one of the more visible foreign celebrities (gaijin tarento) in Japan. Events 553 - The Second Council of Constantinople begins 1215 - Rebel Barons renounce their allegiance to King John Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) A gaikokujin tarento ( also known as gaijin tarento (外人タレント and abbreviated gaitare, is a foreign celebrity active exclusively or almost exclusively For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics.
Spector, a Jewish American, was born in Chicago, Illinois. American Jews, or Jewish Americans Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. He studied abroad at Sophia University in 1972. is a private university in Japan with its main campus located in Yotsuya, an area of Tokyo 's Chiyoda Ward in Japan. He has lived in Japan since 1983. He appears regularly as a commentator on several different Japanese television programmes (such as 'Soko made itte, iinkai'). He writes columns for Shukan Bunshun magazine and Tokyo Sports Shimbun and has written several books.
He speaks proficient Japanese. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities He states that he became a TV celebrity when he was to be cast in a one time, non-speaking role on a show, but protested in Japanese about the way he was to be used. is a Japanese rendering ( Wasei-eigo) of the English word " Talent " and is used as a catch-all term for Mass media personalities who regularly He believes his ability to stand up for himself impressed the producers enough to make him a regular speaking talent. In a documentary titled, The Japanese Version, he points out the novelty of foreigners to Japanese in Japan, likening the relationship to a panda (the foreigner) and an animal watcher at a zoo (the Japanese). The meaning of his analogy is that he believes the Japanese think foreigners are cute and out of the ordinary and will toss them treats if they do something cute, but that's as far as they want to be involved. Spector goes on to say this about his involvement in the Japanese "tarento" scene:
Making foreigners cuter takes away the threat of foreigners being more powerful, or having more know-how, or more sophistication. So definitely, they use that in a way to make themselves more comfortable. So I've done things on Japanese TV that are totally silly, or ridiculous. I mean like jumping rope with French poodles. Doing 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. I'd be a much lower animal. I'd be like a sloth, or something, or a hedgehog, you know, for that money. So it doesn't bother me at all. [1]
In the United States, Spector has appeared on The Tonight Show and Iron Chef, among other programs. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as appropriate --> The Tonight Show is a long-running Iron Chef is a Japanese television program produced by FujiTV.
He was subsequently hired by NBC to provide some commentary for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan and has appeared regularly on Japanese TV since then, as many as 8 or 9 times each week. The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVIII Olympic Winter Games were a Winter Multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1998 [2]
Spector also scouts other non-Japanese talent for the Japanese media such as fitness guru Billy Blanks who currently enjoys success in Japan through the sale of his videos. Billy Blanks (born September 1 1955 is an American fitness Guru, martial artist, Actor, and the inventor of the Tae Bo exercise
References
- ^ The Japanese Way A transcript of the documentary may be found at the Center for New American Media website
- ^ Mark Schrieber, "One-man media airs his views", Japan Times, 2 February 2003
External links
- Dave Spector at the Internet Movie Database
- Transcript of The Japanese Version can be found at the Center for New American Media website
- Dave Spector: in the public eye at Japan Today
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