Day 1:
Diving into the World-Renowned Neo Centric Chaos.
“The 15-Year Transfer / Refactoring”
Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Itinerary

Tuesday, Aug 20, 2024
Some typhoon / Sudden thunderstorms 35°
JL735: NRT to HKG

I managed to dodge the first typhoon of the season.
Right now, I’ve just passed over the island where my colleague was born.
Soon, I’ll cross the border, passing over Taipei.
Beyond that, the flight path seems to follow the strait between the restless Eurasian continent and Taiwan.
In 100 years, will Taiwan follow Hong Kong and be assimilated into China?
Apple and TSMC have already made their moves, but for the IT industry, this region remains fraught with critical geopolitical risks.
With Japan weakened by an aging population and a declining birthrate, this is no longer someone else’s problem.

Even though this is a private trip,
my main objective is to attend the summit on the second day,
so there will be almost no time to wander the city.
Just like last time, I’m landing at midnight.
To keep things simple, I’ve minimized procedures and luggage.
Transit, buses, meals—everything should be handled by VISA contactless payment,
so I departed without a single HKD in my pocket.
My only personal gear: a modified ThinkPad—a rarity for personal use, I’m often told—and a DSDV-compatible smartphone equipped with an app to hack cell station data.
No local SIM; just a pre-reserved roaming contract for this trip.
My boss made it a condition of travel that I not get detained by the authorities, and my colleagues warned me repeatedly that taking the wrong photo could lead to being hauled away by lurking officials.
Refusing to let my data or devices be exploited, I decided to leave all Apple products behind.

Resetting my watch by one hour to GMT+8, 21:40.
As the plane entered Hong Kong’s controlled airspace,
we were held in a holding pattern just before Hong Kong Island, waiting for other delayed flights.
We landed at 22:20, twenty minutes late.
I rushed on and off the airport shuttle and lined up for immigration.
Shockingly, I haven’t seen a single restroom up to this point.
At 22:48, I slipped onto the Airport Express waiting at the platform and departed Airport Station on schedule.
After about a 20-minute ride, I got off at the first stop, scanned the QR code of the round-trip discount ticket I’d purchased from the authorities in advance, and exited the gate.
During the transfer to my first MTR line, I finally found a restroom.
In the transfer tunnel, there was even a Daiso.
The platforms and corridors are so vast they make me feel as though I’ve shrunk into a miniature version of myself.
Being late at night, the crowds are sparse.
From there, I transferred near the heart of Kowloon and moved toward Sung Wong Toi Station near Kowloon Bay, where my hotel is located.

Compared to the scale of the station facilities, the MTR carriages feel significantly narrower and shorter than those in Tokyo.
The seats, of course, are stainless steel to deter graffiti.
Though there are empty seats here and there, the occupancy is surprisingly high for this hour.
And people are talking—a lot.
Mixed with the audio from advertisements on the LCD displays,
the interior of the train feels as lively as a commute in Osaka.

Glancing at my smartphone—
I’ve heard Google services are blocked in mainland China,
but they seem to work here in Hong Kong.
However, looking at the Google search results,
certain keywords were highlighted in red,
and I felt a sense of dissonance here and there that I’ve never seen in other countries.
Social media works normally,
but fake-looking messages like “Someone changed your password” pop up,
and sessions are frequently dropped.
I also noticed that sending photos is unusually slow.
The sensation of being monitored became palpable, so I stopped sending them altogether.

I checked the app that hacks cell station data.
At the airport, the carrier name was “China Mobile,”
but now it only says “3.”
…The carrier my data is flowing through is “3”? 3 what? The 3rd Department? The authorities?
A chill ran down my spine as I checked if my VPN was still active.
Damn… it’s disconnected.
I scrambled to change the settings to block all internet traffic without a VPN, but… was it already too late?
I was ill-prepared.
Of course, a VPN isn’t a total solution, but it’s slightly better than connecting stark naked.

Monday, October 21, 2024
Rain 29°
Kowloon Bay (Late night, Day 1)

It’s past midnight as I emerge from the station named after the grand burial site of Sung Wong Toi.
I find myself at the Kowloon Bay pier.
On my visit 15 years ago, Hong Kong Island was the main stage.
But since tomorrow’s venue is a luxury hotel on the Kowloon waterfront, I booked a place nearby in Kowloon Bay.
This is the area where the Kowloon Walled City once loomed.

Before me, amidst construction zones, traditional Kowloon high-rise “coffin apartments” are being demolished,
while several new luxury towers, twice as tall, are under construction in the gaps.
I pass a massive billboard with an unsettling slogan from the authorities: “…Improvement. It is the heart of the Authority.”
To wash out the bad taste, I finish an ice cream I bought at the 7-Eleven by the gate.
…Is it the destiny of all humans to always aim for the heavens?
We might just end up with another Babel.

29 degrees. Humidity is relatively low, and it’s unexpectedly cool.
Despite the light rain,
I see people out for a jog.
Even though we’re closer to the equator here, Tokyo seems far more sweltering and humid right now.

Crossing one road through the construction zone, I enter the old urban district surrounding the former Walled City.
It looks like a deserted Kabukicho that’s gone out of business.
If I had to compare it to somewhere in Japan—though I’ve never been—it might feel like Gunkanjima (Hashima Island).
No plants, no flowerbeds—
a city where everything but the sky is covered in cracked concrete.
Walls peeling away,
signs tilting dangerously,
neon lights short-circuiting,
shutters covered in graffiti.
Used condoms scattered across the ground.
Liquids that aren’t rain drip down from above.
I trek through this ruin, amidst the smell of something burning in the distance.
Traffic keeps to the left; the signals are British-style.
English is written beneath the Chinese.
The voices of people passing by are a mix of both languages.
This ongoing chaos of urban decay, far beyond my imagination, sends a jolt of excitement through me.
Placing myself in the dead center of this high-density, near-future chaos,
I feel that even someone like me still has much to offer.
I feel myself settling into a natural state of being.

Even if one is born inside the Walled City
and single-mindedly fulfills the dream of escaping to the outside world,
the same world waits out there, too.
…It feels as if I’m reading some dark fairy tale.

I buy water and alcohol at a convenience store alongside some tattooed youths,
passing a parent and child walking a puppy in the shadow of a ruined building.
Then, I feel a sudden shiver.
The atmosphere was distinctly different from the puppies I often pass in Tokyo.

• Prologue
• Index
• Day 2 (1/2)