Amazon Studios Commissions James May’s ‘Our Man In… Japan’
Amazon has commissioned a new six-part unscripted series ‘Our Man In… Japan‘ with ‘The Grand Tour’ co-host James May the streaming service announced today.
Fifteen years after James May first visited Japan as a baffled tourist, he embarks on a quest to understand the unique, extraordinary and complex country. The birthplace of the haiku and classical art forms driven by the principles of Wabi (stark beauty) and Sabi (natural inspiration) and Yugen (grace and subtlety), Japan is also the place that’s given us Godzilla, Hello Kitty, Cosplay, and some of the strangest obsessions on the planet. James will embark on an epic journey across all of Japan from North to South, determined to understand why this unique land and its people are the way they are, what drives their whole culture and what their approach to life can teach the rest of us. James can’t speak the language, he is clueless about Japanese etiquette, but at least he knows there’s a small tree called a banzai…
“Japan is the most amazing place I’ve ever visited,” commented May. “Everything about it is a surprise: a boiled sweet, a bullet train, an unexpected ancient temple, and the challenge of eating a single edamame bean with chopsticks. It’s a class A stimulant for all the senses, and an etiquette minefield for the unwary. I intend to immerse myself in it completely, in the pursuit of enlightenment and life balance. And I bet the noodles will be fantastic.”
Back in December, Amazon announced ‘The Grand Tour’ would be switching its format moving forward. The tent would be ditched, and future seasons of the show would be more inline with the old ‘Top Gear’ specials, taking on big adventure road trips and released throughout the year. As part of the new deal, Clarkson, Hammond and May, along with Executive Producer Andy Wilman, will be developing brand new TV shows with them individually, of which this is the first.
“We’re incredibly excited to announce this new project with James, which will see him take on an epic thousand mile journey across ancient Japanese islands, mega cities, and all points in between,” adds Georgia Brown, Director of Prime Original Series in Europe. “The Grand Tour fans around the world will be delighted to hear that they will have even more James May on their screens. We can’t wait to see what James and his talented team produce from this ambitious adventure.”
The new UK Prime Original series will be directed by BAFTA TV Award nominee Tom Whitter (‘James Mays Man Lab’, ‘Toy Stories’, ‘Apollo 13: The Inside Story’) for Plum Pictures where it will be exec produced by Will Daws (who has overseen several James May projects including ‘Toy Stories’, ‘Man Lab’ and the ‘Reassembler’). The team start filming today, and will launch exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.
