Naomi Osaka and LeBron James have each reached the pinnacle of their respective sports. And now, the two will be partnering for an upcoming series on how athletes spend their time away from their respective sports, experiencing their home cities during their off days.
Osaka’s Hana Kuma production company and James’ Uninterrupted will come together, along with UltraBoom Media, the company behind the Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown series, on the new project called Off Day that will be aired on the Uninterrupted YouTube channel.
According to an exclusive report on the upcoming project from Variety, the first episode of the project that will air bi-weekly was released on Wednesday, showing Osaka touring Tokyo, Japan.
Future episodes feature a pretty expensive list of high-profile athletes, including Toronto Blue Jays All-Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. touring Toronto, Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun touring Istanbul, and Aryna Sabalenka, the No. 1 ranked female tennis player in the world, touring New York City.
Osaka shared a statement about the upcoming project in the Variety report, explaining that the project is one that is “really special” to her because of how it will go “beyond the game” and show more about who the athletes featured are as people outside of their sport.
“As both an executive producer and someone featured in the first episode, ‘Off Day’ is really special to me,” said Osaka. “We created Hana Kuma to tell layered, honest stories like this — ones that go beyond the game and show the person. I’m proud to kick it off and to collaborate with Uninterrupted and UBM, who share our vision of showing athletes in a fuller, more human light.”
A trailer for the remainder planned episodes in the project, which was posted on the Off Day YouTube channel on Wednesday, can be seen below.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.