James May will break away from Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond to host his own series in Japan on Amazon Prime Video.
The TV presenter, who has worked with Clarkson and Hammond for nearly two decades on Top Gear and then The Grand Tour, will star in his own six-part unscripted series called Our Man In… Japan as he embarks on a quest to understand the country.
He will travel across all of Japan from north to south in a bid to know more about the land and its people, why they are the way they are, what drives their culture and what the rest of the world can learn about their approach to life.
May, who first visited Japan 15 years ago, said: “Japan is the most amazing place I’ve ever visited.
“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.”
Director of Prime Original series in Europe Georgia Brown said: “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.
“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.”
May, who previously co-hosted BBC Two’s Top Gear from 2003 until 2015, moved to Amazon Prime Video with his co-stars for their new motoring series The Grand Tour in 2016.
In December, the streaming giant announced it had entered a deal with each of the hosts of The Grand Tour to develop new TV shows with them individually.
Clarkson and Hammond’s solo projects have yet to be announced.
Filming on the series starts on Monday and will launch exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories across the world.
