👘 [Japanese Week] 📺 Japanese Tv Series Review: Tourist (ツーリスト)

This three-episode Japanese drama is perfect for learning Japanese and traveling across Asia as each episode focuses on one female character that somehow has a connection with the country the story takes place in.

Ameku Makoto recently experienced some life-changing events back home in Japan, so now he’s taking some time off from everything and is traveling, following someone’s movements between Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), Taipei (Taiwan) and Bangkok (Thailand).

In each of these cities his path will cross with a woman facing a turning point in her life and Makoto will somehow help them to get their minds straight.

In Vietnam, he meets Noue Satsuki a woman who was once a successful drama writer, but now is annoyed and lost interest in everything, so Makoto will make her live some exciting experiences to help her fell that thrill she has been missing for a while.

In Taiwan, Makoto will find himself in a semi-comic and frankly gruesome situation and will ask Tsunomori Honoka, who's landed in the Taiwanese capital the previous day for her bachelorette party, to pretend to be his girlfriend.

The last episode is set in Thailand, where Makoto meets Tachibana Kaoru, a divorced mom who’s following her ex-husband and new girlfriend…why, she’s not sure either. She's also pondering about quitting her job and moved out of Japan but is scared of what life might reserve her.

My Opinion👍👎

Besides the fact that when I visited Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea I didn't come across not even ONE Italian tourist while Makoto manages to find three beautiful Japanese ladies almost as soon as he steps foot in the country, I like his Jiminy Cricket kind of role: he basically does nothing concrete to help these women, he just listens to them and gives them an alternative point of view.

The ladies are at a point in their lives where they feel a bit lost, trying to hold to a past that doesn't belong (nor fit) them anymore and being scared of the future and of all the choices one must make are completely relatable worries. 
The only aspect that confused me was Makoto's ambiguity as (especially in Ho Chi Min's episode) he can act friendly and amicable at first and then suddenly change into a mysterious and shady person...I still can't get a grip on this matter!

I almost fell off the chair when I saw the episode set in Taipei as some shooting was in front of a temple I went to the first time I visited! 

Anyway, I loved the series and if you need something entertaining but quick, you should definitely go for this dorama!
It's also helpful if you're learning Japanese because the dialogues are simple to understand and on various topics of conversations, so you can definitely get some inspirations and good examples.

Rating: 4½/5

Ph: wowow.co.jp & dramaeveryday.com