What a viewJames May: Our Man in Japan – the former Top Gear presenter takes a tour
- Amazon Prime Video’s six-part travelogue is informative but not hectoring, charming but never twee
- Plus, new anime with attitude from Netflix, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened
What better way to begin the onslaught than with James May, the avuncular arm of The Grand Tour and former Top Gear trident? In James May: Our Man in Japan, the easy-going hero of Amazon Prime Video’s six-part travelogue, now streaming in its entirety, meanders from frozen north to sunny south, admitting that he’s never understood Japan’s enduring mysteries but gamely giving everything a go in the quest for enlightenment.
This despite the fact that for Londoner May, Japan is “possibly the most ‘abroad’ place you can go” and therefore alien and confusing. No matter: at the risk of merely trotting out already overfamiliar stuff, “blue-eyed British samurai” May, as one interpreter calls him, courageously confronts karaoke, the Shibuya Scramble, salarymen, sakura, Shinkansen, swordsmithery, sumo, fast-food sushi, calligraphy, Fukushima, anime, bento, gigantic killer robots, niche-interest gadgetry, haiku, onsen, geisha and holy mountains, rescuing them all from cliché with a winning combination of bewilderment, incompetence, profound foreignness, wonder, perseverance and a willingness to learn.
The people whom May meets genuinely seem to like him, notwithstanding his insistence that they’re just indulging in the Japanese national sport of being polite. Which goes to show that when he steps out of the large and small shadows of his regular co-presenters, May can, by luck, judgment or affability, deliver an entertainment package that’s informative but not hectoring, charming but never twee.
And while he recognises that there are still many veils of mystery to be parted before Japan divulges all its secrets, he doesn’t forget his friends, or at least one of them. Having visited a radical apparel shop called Sperm for a disastrous makeover, then having helped to carry the likeness of a giant pink phallus during a fertility festival, May tells an interviewer (post-filming and viewable on YouTube) that the penis featured is “not the biggest d**k I’ve ever worked with”.
Banzai!