SHERLOCK IN TOKYO

A JAPANESE TV REIMAGINING OF THE GREAT DETECTIVE

When Arthur Conan Doyle first set pen to paper to create Sherlock Holmes, the detective was inseparable from Victorian London—the gaslit streets of Baker Street, the hansom cabs, the thick fogs rolling off the Thames. Yet more than a century later, Holmes has proven to be an adaptable traveler, capable of being reimagined across borders and centuries. Few adaptations capture this elasticity of character more vividly than Sherlock: Untold Stories, a Japanese television drama broadcast by Fuji TV as a Getsuku (primetime) series. Released in the fourth quarter of 2019, it brought Holmes into the heart of 21st-century Tokyo, transforming Conan Doyle’s detective into a figure recognizable to modern Japanese audiences while retaining the essence of deduction, brilliance, and eccentricity that define him.

It is important to note at the outset that Sherlock: Untold Stories is not a remake or licensed reworking of the BBC’s Sherlock (2010–2017), despite superficial similarities in name and premise. The BBC series, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, popularized the idea of Holmes in the present day, solving crimes in modern London with smartphones, digital surveillance, and contemporary policing. The Japanese version shares the modern setting but not the production lineage. Rather, it is an independent re-creation that adapts Doyle’s stories through the prism of Japanese culture, reframing Holmes as a Tokyo-based detective whose struggles and triumphs resonate with local audiences.

At the center of the series are two characters who echo, yet transform, Doyle’s originals. Shishio Homare, played with idiosyncratic energy by Dean Fujioka, stands in for Sherlock Holmes. Shishio is a consulting detective, brilliant to the point of arrogance, socially unconventional, and perpetually restless. His genius for deduction manifests in ways both dazzling and unsettling, revealing truths that others overlook or would rather not confront. He is eccentric in dress and behavior, yet his observations cut with the same precision Doyle once gave Holmes, and his methods are deeply rooted in logic, intuition, and relentless curiosity.

His counterpart is Dr. Junichi Wakamiya, portrayed by Takanori Iwata, a psychiatrist who unwillingly becomes Shishio’s partner and chronicler. Like Dr. Watson, Wakamiya is the audience’s entry point into the detective’s world: grounded, rational, sometimes exasperated, but ultimately loyal. Yet his profession adds a distinct Japanese touch. As a psychiatrist, Wakamiya provides not only narrative perspective but also a psychological counterweight to Shishio’s erratic genius. Where Doyle’s Watson supplied medical knowledge and steady companionship, Wakamiya introduces mental health expertise and emotional insight, reflecting the increasing social importance of psychiatry and wellness in contemporary Japan.

Together, Shishio and Wakamiya recreate the dynamic that has always defined the Holmes-Watson relationship: the tension between brilliance and normalcy, risk and restraint, genius and humanity. But transplanted into Tokyo, their partnership acquires new dimensions, shaped by Japanese cultural norms of hierarchy, politeness, and social obligation.

Perhaps the most striking reinvention in the series is the setting. Baker Street, with its fog and hansom cabs, is exchanged for the neon corridors, crowded trains, and layered social structures of Tokyo. The city itself becomes a character, providing the labyrinth through which Shishio moves with predatory instinct.

The choice of Tokyo as the backdrop is more than cosmetic. Just as Doyle used London’s fogs and alleys to evoke mystery and uncertainty, Sherlock: Untold Stories uses Tokyo’s density, anonymity, and technological saturation to create an environment where crime hides in plain sight. Cases involve not only traditional murders and thefts but also cybercrime, corporate scandal, and psychological trauma—problems rooted in the complexities of 21st-century Japanese urban life. The detective’s famous deductive skills remain timeless, but the mysteries are unmistakably modern.

While ostensibly drawing inspiration from untold cases in the Canon, What distinguishes Sherlock: Untold Stories most vividly is the way its cases reflect pressing social issues in Japan. In one early episode, a case surrounding a young woman’s suspicious death draws attention to the pressures of corporate culture, including the phenomenon of karōshi (death by overwork). Shishio’s investigation exposes not only the hidden details of her demise but also the systemic exploitation and silence surrounding workplace abuse. The detective’s brilliance here is not only logical but moral—he shines light on issues many prefer to ignore.

Another storyline delves into cybercrime, with Shishio tracking a hacker who manipulates personal data to blackmail victims. This modern twist resonates with a society where digital privacy is increasingly precarious, and where reputation—the preservation of face—remains a vital social currency. The interplay of deduction and technology underscores how Holmes’ methods remain relevant, even when the crimes are rooted in server logs rather than footprints in the mud.

The series also ventures into the darker corners of psychological trauma. In one of the most poignant episodes, Shishio and Wakamiya confront a case where the truth lies hidden in mental illness and family dysfunction. Here, Wakamiya’s expertise as a psychiatrist becomes indispensable, and the show uses the mystery format to probe stigmas surrounding mental health in Japan. By pairing deduction with empathy, the series expands Doyle’s formula to engage with contemporary debates about care, vulnerability, and healing.

These episodes illustrate how Sherlock: Untold Stories is not merely transplanting Victorian plots into Tokyo but is actively conversing with Japan’s present-day concerns. Each mystery becomes a mirror, reflecting the anxieties, pressures, and moral dilemmas of Japanese society while retaining the timeless excitement of deduction.

Serving as a spin-off from the 2019 Fuji TV drama Sherlock: Untold Stories, the feature film The Hound of the Baskervilles: Sherlock the Movie is a 2022 Japanese film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective novel. Directed by Hiroshi Nishitani, and featuring the stars from the TV series, the story twists the classic tale by having Holmes and Watson investigate the attempted kidnapping of a wealthy entrepreneur’s daughter, leading them to a mysterious island in the Seto Inland Sea. There, they encounter the entrepreneur’s eccentric family and a chilling legend of a spectral dog .

While the film draws inspiration from the original novel, it introduces an original narrative that delves into themes of vengeance, parental love, abuse, and psychological trauma. Critics have praised the film for its compelling pacing and powerful performances, particularly highlighting the emotional depth of the story. The Hound of the Baskervilles: Sherlock the Movie offers a fresh and engaging take on the classic tale, blending elements of gothic horror with modern Japanese storytelling.

As mentioned, many international viewers have mistakenly assumed Sherlock: Untold Stories was a remake of the BBC show. However, where the BBC series thrived on rapid editing, stylized visualizations of thought processes, and ironic self-awareness, Sherlock: Untold Stories pursues a different tone. It leans less on spectacle and more on character study, less on clever nods to Doyle’s canon and more on re-grounding the Holmes figure in Tokyo’s unique milieu. The result is neither imitation nor parody, but a genuine reinterpretation that belongs to Japan’s ongoing conversation with Holmes.

By refusing to remake or replicate the BBC series, Sherlock: Untold Stories reasserts the independence of cultural adaptation. It participates in a long lineage of Holmes in Japan, from early translations to literary pastiches to manga reinventions, and now to television drama. Each iteration affirms the same principle: Sherlock Holmes endures because he is endlessly adaptable, a mirror for the society that adopts him.

In this sense, Sherlock: Untold Stories is more than a drama series. Instead, it is part of an international dialogue, proving Doyle’s detective is not bound by time or geography. Whether under the gaslamps of London or the neon signs of Tokyo, Holmes persists—a timeless seeker of truth, forever remade and yet always the same.

Paul Bishop is the author of fifteen novels, including the award winning Lie Catchers. He is also the editor of 52 Weeks 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels—a multi-author compendium of essays regarding fifty-two of the best Sherlockian pastiches plus much more—Available on Amazon or from Genius Books...

52 Weeks * 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels