One of the more interesting aspects of living in Japan is seeing famous faces from back home starring in local TV commercials. Like Tommy Lee Jones playing an alien observing human behavior while he drinks Boss Coffee, or Charlize Theron frolicking in the bath, or Harrison Ford downing a cold Kirin Ichiban Shibori beer then wiping the foam from his mouth. The ’24’ commercials in which Jack Bauer chases terrorists through Tokyo then takes a quick Calorie Mate break are classic, and they even brought Audrey Hepburn back from the dead to plug Afternoon Milk Tea. There’s a word in Japanese — miihaa — which describes a person who can’t resist the latest trends and who goes ga-ga over seeing a famous person. Some companies develop reputations as miihaa too, when they use famous foreigners in their TV commercials a lot. The “King of Miihaa” in Japan has got to be Softbank, which has paid millions to stars such as Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz — she got $3 million for six hours of work, for example — to plug its cell phones. Now Quentin Tarantino has joined the ranks of famous gaijin in Japanese TV commercials, showing off his kung-fu prowess beside the cute white dog Otosan (“Dad”).
“Uncle Quentin” is the newest addition to the Softbank family.
