From Watchlist to Travel List: Asian Shows That Inspire Real-World Adventures
Sometimes a travel destination starts with a search for flights and hotels.
Sometimes it starts much earlier, when you see a place on screen and think, “I want to go there.”
A restaurant in Tokyo. A road along the Korean coast. A market in Hokkaido. A landscape in China. A glimpse of everyday life in Singapore.
Asian entertainment has a way of turning places into part of the story, and Amasian TV’s travel and food programming offers plenty of examples. With its new partnership with Trip.com, Amasian TV is taking that connection a step further by linking viewers from the shows they watch to destinations they can actually explore and plan for.
Start in Japan: Follow the Food
Japan has some of the clearest examples of the connection between watching and traveling.
The Solitary Gourmet Season 10 follows Goro Inogashira through different parts of Japan as work leads him into local restaurants. The appeal is not just the food itself. The locations become part of the experience, from Tokyo neighborhoods to nearby cities such as Yokohama.
Shibuyummy takes a more concentrated approach, exploring food around Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood. Its episodes cover everything from sushi and ramen to parfaits, Japanese curry, Okinawan cuisine, and wagashi.
Then there are programs that move outside Tokyo.
Traveling Chef De France in Hokkaido follows French chef Amandine Chaignot as she explores Hokkaido’s ingredients, food producers, and local chefs. The series touches on seafood, kombu, Wagyu beef, sake, and other elements of the region’s food culture.
Exploring Hokkaidos Underground Food Scene: Season 2 adds another reason to look beyond the obvious destinations.
Together, these programs create a different kind of Japan itinerary. Instead of starting with a list of landmarks, you could start with the food you want to experience.
See Korea From the Road
Korean travel programming offers another set of possibilities.
In Seoksam Play: The Beginning, the cast travels through five cities with a 500,000 won budget affected by missions along the way. That constraint becomes part of the entertainment, but it also changes how the group approaches the trip.
Driving Traveler takes the opposite approach. Kim Nam Hee travels alone by car through places including Busan, Jinan, Samcheok, Danyang, and Namhae.
Then there is House on Wheels, where the cast travels around Korea in a mobile home, stopping in different areas and inviting guests to stay with them.
These shows do not present one definitive way to travel around Korea. They show how different the experience can be depending on whether you want a tightly planned itinerary, a road trip, or a slower stay.
Discover More of China
Amasian TV also offers China Travel and Discovering China, two channels that open up a broader look at the country.
China Travel focuses on China’s tourism and lifestyle, while Discovering China features documentary programming built around themes including China’s culture, history, and development.
The two channels were launched by China Global Television Network in 2025 as specialized international FAST channels. Their programming gives viewers another way to explore the country before deciding which destinations they might want to experience themselves.
For a traveler, that can be useful in a way that a simple list of “places to visit” is not. You get to see different aspects of a destination before deciding what actually interests you.
Singapore Through CNA
For Singapore, the campaign includes CNA, which brings together news, lifestyle, human-interest, current affairs, and documentary programming with an Asian perspective.
That makes it a little different from a dedicated travel channel. Rather than looking at Singapore only through tourism, CNA’s broader programming can provide context about the people, places, and issues that shape the city and the region.
Mediacorp describes CNA’s programming as spanning business, lifestyle, human-interest stories, current affairs, and documentaries, with a focus on Asian perspectives.
When Your Watchlist Becomes a Travel List
That is the idea behind the Amasian TV and Trip.com partnership.
The partnership connects Amasian TV’s food, travel, and cultural programming with curated destinations and travel planning on Trip.com. Viewers can explore destinations featured in shows, look through suggested itineraries and destination guides, and access flights, hotels, and Trip.com booking links. The campaign also includes up to $50 in Trip.com travel credit through the offer.
The concept is simple: the place you see on screen does not have to stay on screen.
A watchlist can be the beginning of an itinerary.
Explore the Shows and Plan the Trip
From Japanese food and Korean road trips to Chinese travel programming and Singapore-focused content, Amasian TV offers plenty of ways to start exploring a destination before you ever pack a bag.
Watch the shows, find the places that catch your attention, and then see where that curiosity takes you.