diff --git a/satpy/etc/composites/amsr2.yaml b/satpy/etc/composites/amsr2.yaml
index f87265c483..344209bc77 100644
--- a/satpy/etc/composites/amsr2.yaml
+++ b/satpy/etc/composites/amsr2.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ sensor_name: amsr2
 
 composites:
   rgb_color:
-    compositor: !!python/name:satpy.composites.GenericCompositor
+    compositor: !!python/name:satpy.composites.RGBCompositor
     prerequisites:
     - name: 'btemp_10.7h'
     - name: 'btemp_36.5h'
diff --git a/satpy/readers/amsr2_l1b.py b/satpy/readers/amsr2_l1b.py
index 5ea3ea67a5..881867fd67 100644
--- a/satpy/readers/amsr2_l1b.py
+++ b/satpy/readers/amsr2_l1b.py
@@ -14,10 +14,10 @@ def get_metadata(self, ds_id, ds_info):
         info.update({
             "shape": self.get_shape(ds_id, ds_info),
             "units": self[var_path + "/attr/UNIT"],
-            "platform_name": self["/attr/PlatformShortName"].item(),
-            "sensor": self["/attr/SensorShortName"].item(),
-            "start_orbit": int(self["/attr/StartOrbitNumber"].item()),
-            "end_orbit": int(self["/attr/StopOrbitNumber"].item()),
+            "platform_name": self["/attr/PlatformShortName"],
+            "sensor": self["/attr/SensorShortName"],
+            "start_orbit": int(self["/attr/StartOrbitNumber"]),
+            "end_orbit": int(self["/attr/StopOrbitNumber"]),
         })
         info.update(ds_id.to_dict())
         return info
diff --git a/satpy/readers/utils.py b/satpy/readers/utils.py
index 1fd7c92349..6159a1938f 100644
--- a/satpy/readers/utils.py
+++ b/satpy/readers/utils.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ def np2str(value):
 
     """
     if hasattr(value, 'dtype') and \
-            issubclass(value.dtype.type, np.string_) and value.size == 1:
+            issubclass(value.dtype.type, (np.string_, np.object_)) and value.size == 1:
         value = np.asscalar(value)
         if not isinstance(value, str):
             # python 3 - was scalar numpy array of bytes
diff --git a/satpy/tests/reader_tests/test_amsr2_l1b.py b/satpy/tests/reader_tests/test_amsr2_l1b.py
index 3fbb2c1a54..598d55c638 100644
--- a/satpy/tests/reader_tests/test_amsr2_l1b.py
+++ b/satpy/tests/reader_tests/test_amsr2_l1b.py
@@ -34,10 +34,10 @@ class FakeHDF5FileHandler2(FakeHDF5FileHandler):
     def get_test_content(self, filename, filename_info, filetype_info):
         """Mimic reader input file content"""
         file_content = {
-            '/attr/PlatformShortName': np.array('GCOM-W1'),
-            '/attr/SensorShortName': np.array('AMSR2'),
-            '/attr/StartOrbitNumber': np.array('22210'),
-            '/attr/StopOrbitNumber': np.array('22210'),
+            '/attr/PlatformShortName': 'GCOM-W1',
+            '/attr/SensorShortName': 'AMSR2',
+            '/attr/StartOrbitNumber': '22210',
+            '/attr/StopOrbitNumber': '22210',
         }
         for bt_chan in [
             '(10.7GHz,H)',