Epilogue:
Afterword
“The 15-Year Transfer / Refactoring”
Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Itinerary

Afterword

Finally, as a small token of gratitude to those who have read this far,
I would like to share two things not mentioned in the main story:
A curious change I noticed in the city—”Was this here 15 years ago?”

And

What happened after takeoff on Day 3—”What I had lost for 15 years.”
With these, I conclude my manuscript of this trip to Hong Kong from August 20th to 22nd, 2024.

Thank you sincerely for reading.
I am always here on this website.
If you notice anything or have any thoughts, feel free to reach out via the contact form.
I look forward to the day we might meet again.

A City with a Peculiar Heartbeat

While waiting for boarding, I heard it near the escalators at the gate, so I must comment on it.
There is a persistent, rhythmic “tick, tick, tick” warning sound echoing throughout the city.
It immediately reminded me of the late Kenji Eno’s game, “Enemy Zero”—a game where you track invisible enemies by the pitch and speed of a sound.
But that game’s “ping, ping, ping” was a tension-building yet not unpleasant sound.
The sound in Hong Kong… doesn’t it resemble the sound of a heart monitor in an ICU?
It’s not a very auspicious sound.
I first thought it was only at the ends of the airport escalators, but in the city, it’s used for pedestrian signals too.
When the light turns green, it speeds up: tick-tick-tick-tick (same as the escalator entrance).
When red, it slows down: tick… tick… tick… (same as the exit).
It rings out 24 hours a day, never stopping.
Was this here 15 years ago?

What I Had Lost for 15 Years

As I gazed at the distant kingdom of clouds
and began my in-flight meal,

The memory of that lady who chased after me—a man who had to return to Tokyo the very next day—resurfaced like a kaleidoscope.
Her straightforward, incredibly beautiful feelings,
and my clumsy, inadequate response…

The tears wouldn’t stop.
I couldn’t swallow my food;
my chopsticks wouldn’t move.

I feel as if you answered on my behalf:
“Let us meet again in a thousand years.”

The meaning of those words?
A distant, distant,
faraway future.
Naturally, we will no longer be alive.
Whether Hong Kong or Tokyo—or even cities themselves—will still exist, no one knows.

But since these are feelings with a specific destination,
I must make sure they are delivered.

And the “hope without modifiers” that you long for
must never vanish from this world.

That is what I truly want to protect, alongside all of you.

So, even if I am a nameless man standing alone,
even if no one ever notices me,
in the back alleys that resemble Kowloon,
alongside the friends I lost in the past,
the friends I have now,
and all the wonderful people I’ve met—
I will never stop making music.
This is the only way I can pay back the debt I owe.

To reach you a thousand years from now,
and so we never lose sight of our future hope.

May the millennium future be a world where hope is never lost.
See you 1,000 years later, Kowloon and Hong Kong.
Good luck.

• Day 3
• Index