James May: Our Man in… Episode Rating Graph

The cherry blossoms are out, and James hits the streets of Tokyo with his new guide Yujiro. As James discovers, this unique city is home to some of Japan’s greatest eccentrics and ideas. From obsessive trainspotters, musicians and baffling hi-tech gadgetry to cat superfans, penis festivals and mind-blowing computerised art shows, James tries to understand what makes Japan tick.

In his epic journey across Japan from north to south, James leaves bustling Tokyo to travel to the ancient capital of Kyoto. Along the way he indulges his passions for motorbikes, Japanese cars and culture by painting Mount Fuji, tackling the Suzuka F1 circuit and taking a music lesson from a Geisha. It’s then time for a taste of the future as a confused robot shows James around Kyoto.

James arrives on the main island of Honshu, and the beautiful region of Tohoku. He seeks inspiration with a mountain expedition and naked plunge with a friendly wandering monk, battles giant robots, becomes a samurai, gets adopted by some local J-Pop sensations, before embarrassing himself and his hosts on the world’s most luxurious train.

All roads lead to Rome, so it was inevitable James would end up in Italy's magnificent capital. But it's not just Romans and ruins, James also goes on a bus, meets another version of himself, and looks at something too small to see.

In the beautiful, rural south of the mainland, James is forced to confront a vision of hell courtesy of Dante's Inferno - and a goat that urgently needs milking. The Amalfi Coast offers some much-needed respite before he dives headfirst into the breathless, chaotic, sea of humanity that is the city of Naples.

Size matters, as James visits the vast marble quarries of Carrara and the massive Genoa port. Then it's to the elusive, as James searches for a semblance of peace in the face of killer robots, and a decent cup of tea in Turin.