Western Movie Stars in Japanese Commercials

I was digging around on Youtube and found a whole pile of Japanese commercials with Western leads selling various products.  Some of these commercials are pretty strange, but they are really interesting to watch to see a whole other perspective about advertising.  Japanese commercials can be pretty interesting to watch which is why there are whole channels on Youtube dedicated to them.  Just be careful about when you start searching as it is a very deep rabbit hole to go down.

I still think my favourite commercials are the BOSS Canned Coffee CMs as they often star Tommy Lee Jones.  I like BOSS coffee myself so this is a big bonus. Western stars and movies can be pretty popular in Japan so they are definitely used in advertising.

Tommy Lee Jones and BOSS Coffee

Kiefer Sutherland Calorie Mate

The Calorie Mate energy/nutrition bars are actually fairly tasty too and way back in the early 2000s they had a 24 themed set of commercials running with Kiefer Sutherland.  He has some interesting time pressure scenarios to work through, including one with a train full of Japanese school girls.

 Arnold Schwarzenegger Vitamin B Drink

These are really old commercials from the early 1990s.  VHS tapes or Beta if you're in Japan?  There are a pile of these and they can be pretty strange.  Arnold is a genie in these and has some pretty interesting expressions on his face.


Sean Connery Suntory Crest Whisky

This is another old commerical with Sean Connery in it from 1992.  Made way before Japanese whiskey became internationally famous and even grabbed the #1 spot for the best whiskey in the world.


Tommy Lee Jones Boss Coffee 

He must have been doing these commercials for over twenty years now.  That is quite the long relationship with BOSS.  I think the company even made a commemorative short that showed the highlights for Tommy Lee Jones last year.  These are some of my favourite commercials with Jones the space alien visiting earth.  There are many, many commercials to see.

BOSS Spaceman Jone Police Officer 2016

Spaceman Jones Iron Boss 2019  

Bruce Willis Daihatsu
This one is pretty neat as it shows him rehearsing too.



Steven Seagal in a 1995 Nissin Udon Bowl CM

The number of commercial endorsements from western media stars is going to be pretty high, so if there is someone you are looking for, it is only a Youtube search away.  So you can even find Harrison Ford doing magical Kirin Beer ads and playing on Playstation!

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