It's an 8-episode travel series produced by Amazon where the host James May [of Grand Tour and formerly Top Gear fame] goes to Japan.
I give it a full 9 out of 10.
This is not the first time he's been to Japan. He says that over and over. He compares the Japan of the past to the Japan now, and notices the differences. He has genuine respect for the people and the culture, without patronizing them or infantalising them. His sense of kindness and world-weariness is different from that of Americans and I find it so very 'clean'.
I've only watched half the series episodes, but it's all been great.
It's unclear to me how much the conflict between the production team and the host is scripted, either way it's a great story and I'd like to see more of that in other shows even if it means you're compromising on the 'reality' side of things. His curiosity and hunger to learn more about the culture, really get to know the people and the places are genuine it's obvious despite the editing and through the television screen, I'm not too concerned about the jokes that have been written in. And like someone else said online, without the other car lover going in for the lazy easiest jokes that can be offensive, May gives the other the best possible interpretation. The humor comes from self-deprecation and not kicking on others. May is surely the nicest and the kindest of the three of the car shows, and are we glad he hosts this show!
Might come back to this after I've completed watching the entire series.
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