It's 10 a.m. Sunday, and TBS TV's "Sunday Japon" show is getting under way. American entertainer Dave Spector, a regular panelist, shares the stage with a former porn actress, a Korean journalist and a member of the Diet. After an hour of exchanging ripostes with the others on major international and domestic news events, Spector takes center stage and introduces Hollywood's latest cinema offerings. By noon he's in a nearby restaurant unwinding with friends.
Certainly the most visible of the gaijin tarento -- as foreign celebrities on Japanese television are termed -- Spector appears on eight or nine TV shows a week. This is, however, only his most visible activity. He is also a regular contributor to tabloid newspapers and weekly magazines, he is often the keynote speaker at conferences -- and he has published 10 books in Japanese.
A Chicago native, Spector was born May 5, 1954. He met his wife, Kyoko, in the United States and they were married in 1981. Two years later, he found himself posted to Japan as a producer for ABC TV's zany "Ripley's Believe It or Not" program. Spector's quick mind, and even faster tongue, have forced even his most outspoken critics to concede that his ability to ad lib and crack jokes in rapid-fire, idiomatic Japanese is nothing short of phenomenal.
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