Early Mentalry my dear Watson

OK. Someone needs to explain to me the Japanese fascination with Sherlock Holmes. Every morning I pass the Sherlock Holmes statue at Picardy Place and it’s crawling with Japanese tourists, all taking photos and oohing and aahing over what is fundamentally a fairly average statue.

I’m not just talking about one or two Japanese. I’m talking busloads. Parked up on the grass verge at the roundabout at 7.30am. Bamboozled Scottish bus driver at the wheel, usually eating a bacon roll and drinking a cup of tea from a polystyrene cup. Looks at me, shakes his head and chuckles. He knows that I know it’s ridiculous. Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character for fucks sake.

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