The Who2 Blog

Tommy Lee Jones is the Boss of Japanese Coffee

Tommy Lee Jones in an ad for Boss Coffee in Japan in 2010Tommy Lee Jones has cooled a little onscreen, with a mere 10 films in the last 10 years compared to 20 in the glorious 1990s when he starred in The Fugitive, Men In Black, Batman Forever and a bunch of other great films.

But he's still hot in Japan, where he stars on billboards, posters, and vending machines for BOSS coffee. His weather-beaten look seems to be all they require of him.


Tommy Lee Jones on a billboard for Boss Coffee in Japan in 2010
Boss coffee is "My buddy coffee for working people," according to its maker, Suntory.

That's the same Suntory whose whiskey Bill Murray struggled to endorse in Lost In Translation.  ("For relaxing times... make it Suntory time.") The corporate giant sells whiskey, beer, tea, coffee and mineral water. The equivalent here in the States would be Starbucks Ale or Maxwell House Bourbon ("Good to the last drop!").

Tommy Lee Jones may actually be echoing the crow-footed, pipe-smoking man from the Boss logo:

The pipe-smoking-man logo for Boss Coffee in Japan, pictured in 2010.
Boss coffee tastes just like what you'd expect of canned coffee, but no worse. It's also vending-machine hot and available at 6:45 am, when most Japanese coffee shops are still closed.

Here's an early-morning can of Boss Simple Style (that is, black) coffee atop the Hotel Claska in Tokyo, with Mount Fuji in the distance. Fuji-San is the tiny hump just over the right corner of the big white building.

Can of Boss Coffee on a ledge with Mount Fuji in the distance.
So much for Boss coffee. Now see Tommy Lee Jones wrestling a man dressed as a wild pig >>