A mainland Chinese tourist was rescued after falling into the sea while reportedly taking photos at a lookout point near Clear Water Bay.

Police said they received a report just before 11am on Sunday that a woman lost her footing near a lighthouse by Fat Tong Mun, a channel separating Clear Water Bay and Tung Lung Chau, and fell into the sea. She was saved by somebody on a passing boat.

According to the police investigation, she fell from a three-metre-high cliff.

The 46-year-old was conscious when police arrived. She was sent to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan for treatment, police added.

Local media reported that the woman was hiking with two friends when the incident happened. They stopped at the lighthouse for photos, and she slipped and fell. Hikers in the area alerted police.

She was reportedly rescued by a man in his 70s who was passing by on a fishing boat and heard her cries for help.

Located on an island called Tung Lung Chau, the lighthouse is a popular photo spot, according to conservation NGO Green Come True. But it cautions visitors to be safe and not get too close.

“However, please be aware that the lighthouse is located below the cliff. For safety reasons, it is recommended that you do not get too close for photography,” the NGO wrote in a Facebook post in 2024.

The incident comes a week before mainland China’s five-day Labour Day Golden Week holiday. Authorities expect that around 980,000 visitors from the mainland will cross the border, an increase of 7 per cent compared with last year.

Ahead of the Easter holiday, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said that with more visitors expected at country parks during the break, the public should follow direction signs when hiking and refrain from standing close to cliff edges.

Hong Kong police have arrested nine men in a joint operation with law enforcement agencies in six other jurisdictions, targeting the production, use and distribution of child sexual abuse material online.

The city’s police force said on Monday that Operation Hurdler arrested a total of 326 people in March and April in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Brunei on suspicion of child sexual abuse material-related offences and other sex crimes.

The nine men held in Hong Kong, aged from 18 to 61, were arrested on suspicion of possessing child sexual abuse material, police said. One of them is also alleged to have sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy multiple times between 2023 and 2024, police added.

Ferris Cheung, a superintendent of the force’s cyber security and technology crime bureau, said at a press conference on Monday that officers arrested the suspects on April 14, seizing 15 computers and external storage devices, as well as eight mobile phones.

Over 200 child sexual abuse videos and photos were found on the electronic devices, Cheung said.

“Initial investigation shows that the suspects downloaded the child sexual abuse material through social media platforms, websites and torrent software, and stored them in their computers or phones,” Cheung said in Cantonese.

One of the suspects, a 28-year-old man, had over 20 indecent videos and photos on his devices and is suspected of sexually assaulting a minor between 2023 and 2024, according to police.

The man allegedly befriended the boy online before meeting him in person and sexually assaulting him. The suspect has been charged with indecent assault and appeared before a magistrate on April 16, police said.

Tip of the iceberg

At the same press conference, police clinical psychologist Michael Fung warned of sexual grooming.

Citing a study jointly conducted by police, the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Fung said 15 per cent of respondents admitted to having consumed child sexual abuse material.

The figure represented “the tip of the iceberg,” he said, adding that boys were just as vulnerable to online sexual predators as girls.

Offenders could come from different social classes, with varying income and educational levels, Fung said.

Tam Yik-wun, an acting superintendent of the force’s crime wing support, said that, while police recorded 62 cases related to child sexual abuse material in 2025 – down from 80 in the previous year – online sexual grooming remained a significant source of illicit content.

Offenders often lure minors into sending them intimate photos, which are then used for blackmail for money or sex, Tam said.

Some children mistakenly believe that sending images through the “view-once” function of social messaging apps is safe, Tam added.

She urged parents to be mindful of their children’s online connections, adding that in some cases, parents had successfully prevented their children from falling prey to sexual grooming by sharing social media accounts.

Cheung said the distribution of child sexual abuse material has been increasingly transnational, and that police will step up cooperation with counterparts in other jurisdictions in response.

Hong Kong has joined the International Child Sexual Exploitation Database, operated by Interpol and serving a network connecting investigators from 75 countries. The database has identified over 60,000 victims and led to the arrests of over 25,000 offenders, she said.

Under Hong Kong law, possession of child sexual abuse material carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a HK$1 million fine. The production or distribution of such material is punishable by up to eight years in jail and a HK$2 million fine.

China has blocked Meta’s acquisition of AI startup Manus, the top economic planning body said Monday, after a regulatory review that reportedly also saw Beijing restrict two co-founders from leaving the country.

Facebook owner Meta had agreed to acquire Manus, an artificial intelligence agent created by a company founded in China but now based in Singapore, the two firms said in December.

Analysts however had warned then the deal could fall foul of regulators at a time of fierce technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

The Financial Times reported last month that China had restricted two Manus co-founders from leaving the country, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.

Chief executive Xiao Hong and chief scientist Ji Yichao, who are usually based in Singapore, were reportedly summoned to a meeting in Beijing in March and told they were not allowed to leave China because of a regulatory review of the Meta acquisition.

Beijing’s National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on Monday that it will “prohibit the foreign investment in the acquisition of the Manus project” and “requires the parties involved to withdraw the acquisition transaction”, without naming Meta.

It added that this was done “in accordance with laws and regulations”.

AFP has contacted Manus and Meta for comment.

Meta said in December that the deal — the financial details of which were not disclosed — would “bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products”.

Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said the purchase was likely aimed at expanding Meta’s AI agent task capabilities, and that it could be worth more than US$2 billion.

Manus, created by startup Butterfly Effect, can sift through and summarise resumes or create a stock analysis website, according to its website.

The Buildings Department (BD) did not conduct flammability tests on the scaffold nets covering Wang Fuk Court before the housing estate was struck by a deadly fire last year, an official has told a public inquiry into the blaze.

The BD’s assistant director for mandatory building inspection, Karen Cheung, testified on Monday that her department “mainly” relied on fire retardancy certificates submitted by contractors and did not conduct on-site or laboratory tests, local media reported.

“In terms of scaffolding nets, we really had not conducted tests before,” Cheung said.

In response to questions from Victor Dawes, lead counsel for the inquiry, she said that the department would check where the certificates originated and whether they were recognised in Hong Kong.

Substandard scaffolding nets have been identified as one of the key factors contributing to the rapid spread of the fire in November. In the wake of the blaze, the authorities imposed lab testing requirements before the nets can be used on worksites.

Wang Fuk Court was undergoing major renovation when the fire broke out, killing 168 people and displacing thousands.

The independent committee tasked with investigating the blaze earlier heard that residents lodged complaints about possible fire hazards to authorities before the tragedy struck.

The complaints involved wooden boards installed to replace fireproof windows at emergency staircases so workers could access bamboo scaffolding, foam boards used to shield windows from falling debris, non-flame-retardant scaffold nets, and workers smoking.

Cheung also confirmed that both the registered inspector and the contractor were responsible for submitting certificates and laboratory reports to ensure the nets meet flame-retardancy standards.

Purviews

The Building (Construction) Regulation empowers the BD to take action against works that cover windows with opaque materials, including foam boards, for long periods, the official also said, but government housing complexes like Wang Fuk Court are outside its purview.

As a government-subsidised housing complex, Wang Fuk Court fell under the remit of the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU), Cheung told the hearing.

However, senior ICU surveyor Andy Ku said in a written submission presented at a hearing last week that the unit had no power to regulate “temporary construction materials.”

At the same hearing last week, Michael Yung, assistant director of fire safety at the Fire Services Department, said that fire hazards such as substandard scaffold netting, flammable foam boards, and workers smoking on site fell outside the FSD’s purview.

Under a secondment mechanism to ensure consistency, the BD can send senior staff to the ICU to assist with inspections, according to a document shown at Monday’s hearing.

But Cheung told Dawes that the BD did not conduct any inspections on Prestige Construction & Engineering Company, the maintenance contractor at Wang Fuk Court, and Will Power Architects, the consultancy firm overseeing the works at the estate.

Beijing slammed on Monday an EU plan aimed to bolster the bloc’s industries against fierce competition from China, vowing countermeasures if it is enacted.

The EU unveiled in March new “Made in Europe” rules for companies trying to access public funds in strategic sectors including cars, green tech and steel, obliging firms to meet minimum thresholds for EU-made parts.

The proposal, held up for months by wrangling over the measures, is a key part of a European Union drive to regain its competitive edge, reduce its industrial decline and stave off hundreds of thousands of job losses.

Beijing’s commerce ministry said on Monday that it had submitted comments to the European Commission on Friday, expressing China’s “serious concerns” regarding the act it called “systemic discrimination”.

“If the EU… presses ahead with the legislation, and thereby harms the interests of Chinese companies, China will have no choice but to take countermeasures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its enterprises,” the commerce ministry warned in a statement.

See also: EU offers China alternative to tariffs in electric vehicles dispute

European businesses in many of the sectors concerned by the proposal have long lamented they face unfair competition from heavily subsidised Chinese rivals.

The EU proposal, formally known as the “Industrial Accelerator Act”, implicitly targets Chinese makers of batteries and electric vehicles by requiring foreign firms to partner with European firms and pass on technological know-how when setting up shop in the bloc.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU said this month the plan marked a shift towards protectionism that would affect trade cooperation between the EU and China.

More than 201,000 people took part in Hong Kong’s annual Cinema Day on Saturday, enjoying discounted HK$30 tickets at theatres citywide.

The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau hailed the event as a “great success.”

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the bureau said that this year’s Cinema Day drew 201,519 moviegoers, with 1,694 screenings held across 52 cinemas in the city.

Saturday’s attendance was up around three per cent compared with last year, when around 195,000 people went to the cinema for discounted tickets.

Among the popular movies attracting cinemagoers on Saturday was Night King, a local comedy that came out last year but was re-released as a director’s cut this month.

Local media reported that some Shenzhen residents travelled to Hong Kong to watch films at discounted prices.

Fourth Cinema Day

Hong Kong held its fourth Cinema Day amid years of box office slumps and theatre closures.

This year’s Cinema Day saw a record high occupancy rate of 81 per cent, compared with 67 to 77 per cent in previous years.

However, the total number of cinema seats has fallen from almost 43,000 at the end of 2020 to around 36,800 in July 2025.

Cinema Day was introduced in 2023 as part of the government’s “Happy Hong Kong” campaign to boost the city’s economy, as years-long Covid-19 measures dampened sectors from tourism to entertainment.

The 2023 event attracted over 221,400 filmgoers – the highest so far.

According to a government statement earlier this month, Cinema Day attracts over three times as many admissions as on a usual day. Cinema Days from 2023 to 2025 saw over 600,000 moviegoers purchase discounted movie tickets, the statement read.

Cinema Day is sponsored by the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency under the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau.

Wang Fuk Court residents continued to return to their fire-scorched housing estate to collect personal belongings over the weekend.

One family said they planned to take “one last photo” inside their flat, while a couple brought flowers to mourn a neighbour who died in the blaze.

Residents of Wang Cheong House, the tower first hit by the blaze in November, as well as those of Wang Yan House and Wang Tao House – both of which sustained relatively little damage in the inferno – were allowed to return to their homes in batches on Saturday and Sunday.

It was five months ago that the blaze broke out and engulfed seven of the Tai Po housing estate’s eight blocks, killing 168 people and displacing thousands.

The government has offered to buy back the flats in the seven fire-damaged blocks and plans to tear them down and build a park or other community facilities on the site.

Returning with her sister and elderly parents, a Wang Tao House resident surnamed Poon said her family would take a group portrait in their apartment as a keepsake, local media reported.

“We had many family gatherings here. Each time a family member celebrated their birthday, we would return home for dinner… A lot of group photos were taken in this apartment. Many things happened here,” she told reporters in Cantonese.

“So, as this could be our last chance to return, we have decided to take one more family portrait inside the flat.”

She said the three-hour limit for collecting belongings was not enough. “You need more than three hours to pack if you pack for a holiday. Let alone if we retrieve belongings from a lifetime.”

‘To say goodbye’

While some residents successfully found documents and valuables from their flats, others said there might not be much to salvage.

“Everything’s been burned, there’s not much to collect,” an elderly Wang Cheong House resident surnamed Tang, who moved there when Wang Fuk Court opened in 1983, told reporters in Cantonese.

She climbed the building with her daughter despite having to walk with a cane. The pair retrieved only some jewellery, pottery, and coins.

Tang also paid tribute to several neighbours on the same floor who could not escape the fire. “The neighbours were really kind. I was sad that I couldn’t tell them to leave in time,” she said.

A resident surnamed Ma and his wife brought flowers to mourn a neighbour who died in the fire after learning of the death in a Facebook group for residents.

“Now that we can return… we want to pay tribute to her, to say goodbye,” the husband said.

Wang Fuk Court residents will continue to visit their homes until May 4, with some expressing a desire to return for a second time.

By Tenzin Woeden

Tibetans outside Chinese control vote on Sunday for a government-in-exile, an election of heightened significance as they brace for an inevitable, eventual, future without their revered spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The India-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) — condemned by China as “nothing but a separatist political group” — is a key institution for the exiles, especially after the Dalai Lama handed over political power in 2011.

“Our votes matter,” said Tenzin Tsering, 19, a first-time voter waiting to cast his ballot to push for greater youth representation.

“We need voices that reflect where our community is going, not just where it has been”, he said, speaking in Bylakuppe in India’s southern state of Karnataka, one of the largest Tibetan communities outside the Himalayan plateau.

Polling is due to take place in 27 countries — but not China.

The 91,000 registered voters include Buddhist monks in the high Himalayas, political exiles in South Asia’s megacities and refugees in Australia, Europe and North America.

The 90-year-old Dalai Lama, based in India since fleeing the Tibetan capital Lhasa after Chinese troops crushed an uprising in 1959, insists he has many more years to live.

But supporters of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate are acutely aware that self-declared atheist and Communist China said last year that it must approve the Buddhist leader’s eventual successor.

The Dalai Lama says only his India-based office has that right.

Tibetan Buddhists believe he is the 14th reincarnation of a spiritual leader first born in 1391.

‘Potential of young Tibetans’

The five-year parliament, which sits twice a year, has 45 members from across the world: 30 representing three traditional provinces, 10 representing five religious traditions and five representing the diaspora.

Headquartered in Dharamsala in northern India, it functions as a representative body for an estimated 150,000 Tibetans living in exile worldwide.

Lines of red robed monks and nuns lined up to vote in the Indian hill town on Sunday.

The government’s “sikyong”, or leader, Penpa Tsering, was elected for a second term on February 1, after taking 61 percent in the preliminary round — a high enough threshold to win outright.

Tsering, like the government, does not seek full independence for Tibet, in line with the Dalai Lama’s long-standing “Middle Way” policy seeking autonomy.

Exiled voters represent only a fraction of ethnic Tibetans — whom the CTA estimates at six million worldwide, compared with more than seven million China counted in its 2020 census.

Beijing, which in 1950 sent troops to the vast high-altitude plateau it calls an integral part of China, has condemned the elections as a “farce”.

Its foreign ministry calls the exiled government an “illegal organisation that completely violates the Chinese constitution and laws”.

Among younger voters, some were worried at the perceived underrepresentation of Tibet’s next generation in the corridors of the exile government.

“I want to see fresh faces, leaders who represent the potential of young Tibetans,” said 25-year-old Tenzin Pema, expressing her weariness at the sometimes divisive arguments between older political leaders.

More than half of voters, about 56,000, live in India, Nepal and Bhutan.

The remaining 34,000 are scattered around the world, including roughly 12,000 in North America — including New York and Toronto — and 8,000 in Europe, including Paris, Geneva, Zurich and London.

Results are expected on May 13.

In the desert expanse of Turkmenistan, Chinese engineers are hard at work at the vast Galkynysh gas field — a mega project that is deepening the closed Central Asian state’s already extensive ties with Beijing.

Energy-rich Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most reclusive and sealed-off states, has stated its desire to diversify its exports towards Europe and the Indian subcontinent.

But it is China that is pouring in the cash to get its hands on Turkmenistan’s vast gas reserves, estimated to be the fourth largest in the world.

At the inauguration of a new phase of the Galkynysh plant in mid-April, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov — former president and now father of the nation — hailed the country’s important ties with Beijing.

“Our country regards China as a strategic partner,” he said at the event, to which AFP journalists were granted rare access.

Berdymukhamedov touched down at the ceremony in a white helicopter, where a traditional carpet was laid out across the tarmac.

Standing alongside China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, dancers in the countries’ respective national colours performed a routine symbolising the handover of gas from one to another.

Hundreds of green Turkmen flags fluttered in the desert wind, held up by women in red, purple, blue and green outfits.

Led by the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the expansion will increase production and storage at Galkynysh, enabling more exports to China.

The site is the second-largest gas field in the world, according to British energy consultancy Gaffney, Cline and Associates, behind only South Pars, shared by Iran and Qatar.

Around 90 percent of Turkmenistan’s gas exports already go to China — according to several independent estimates.

Ashgabat does not publish statistics.

“The paradox of Turkmenistan is that as its proven gas reserves have grown, the country has gained the status of a gas giant, but not a comparable degree of freedom in monetising those reserves,” said Abzal Narymbetov, an expert in Central Asia’s energy sector.

“The country has a huge resource base, but its export infrastructure is still heavily tied to the Chinese route,” he added.

‘Strategic vulnerability’

A former Soviet republic, Turkmenistan used to export gas exclusively to Russia until 2009, when a diplomatic spat with Moscow accelerated a pivot towards Beijing.

The Central Asia-China gas pipeline, opened that year, has since delivered “around 460 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas,” Berdymukhamedov said.

He wants to increase annual deliveries to 65 bcm.

China, the world’s largest importer of natural gas, is a major buyer from Russia and the Middle East, but seeks to diversify its energy sources.

“For Turkmenistan, China is irreplaceable, whereas for China, Turkmenistan is just one of several suppliers. That is why dependence on a single market is not just a trade issue but one of strategic vulnerability,” Narymbetov said.

Turkmen authorities are also hoping the expanded field at Galkynysh could help it look further afield.

“In addition to the Chinese route, Galkynysh is also being considered as a resource base for the future TAPI (Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India) gas pipeline,” an employee of state-owned Turkmengaz told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It is aiming to supply 33 bcm along that route as well as boosting exports to Europe via the Caspian Sea on the country’s west.

‘Reinforce’

For now, Beijing is the only viable route.

“Each new phase of Galkynysh so far tends to reinforce the Chinese vector rather than genuinely diversify it,” Narymbetov said.

The already-delayed TAPI route faces security challenges in Afghanistan, where it is still under construction.

And the proposed Trans-Caspian pipeline to take Turkmen gas across the Caspian Sea and into Europe is stalling.

See also: Xi Jinping calls on China, Central Asia to ‘fully unleash’ potential in trade, cooperation

There is no clear agreement on who will finance that project, or long-term gas deals that would make it financially viable.

Asked by AFP, the EU delegation in Turkmenistan said: “We leave a decision on a potential Trans-Caspian Pipeline to Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and/or other parties interested in investing in it financially.”

At home, the partnership with Beijing is, for now, an economic lifeline, with authorities presenting Galkynysh as a source of prosperity for the entire country.

Aga, a 22-year-old student at the oil-and-gas university in the capital Ashgabat, told AFP investment at the field was creating many jobs.

“After I graduate, I would like to work there,” he said.

Ippei-an Ramen & Bar, a Japanese restaurant that has been in operation for 42 years, is located in what people may say is one of Hong Kong’s worst locations.

Energy Plaza, a commercial building in Tsim Sha Tsui East, is no longer a lively spot. Quite a number of stores and restaurants have shut down over the past few years. The lights are dim, and you can hardly find the way to the ramen shop, which is tucked away in the basement.

Yet diners fill the 800-square-foot restaurant at lunch and dinner. Office workers, construction workers, secondary school students and tourists seek comfort in affordable, generous bowls of broth and noodles.

Opened in 1984, Ippei-an bills itself as Hong Kong’s first ramen restaurant. Its founder, Itsuko Shimada, emigrated to Hong Kong 55 years ago.

“I am almost a Hongkonger… I have spent more time in Hong Kong than in Japan,” Shimada spoke to HKFP in English mixed with Cantonese and Japanese. “My life has had its ups and downs here.”

Now in her early 70s, Shimada was a teenager when she and her parents moved from Tokyo to Hong Kong in 1971.

More than a decade later, Shimada, then newly divorced, founded Ippei-an. Her younger son, Kosei Kamatani, was one year old at that time. He later took over the family business after working for a multinational firm.

At its peak, their business had nearly a dozen restaurants across Hong Kong. However, it has been hard hit over the past three years, forcing the closure of several outlets, the mother and son told HKFP.

After suffering significant monthly losses, three restaurants have shuttered since the end of last year, including the 21-year-old branch in Mira Place, a shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Their business was not immune to the spate of closures that affected the city’s restaurant and retail sectors in recent years.

“It’s sad to see so many shops and restaurants shutting down in Hong Kong. I’ve never seen this in all my years here,” said Shimada.

‘Too naive to be scared’

When Shimada opened her first ramen restaurant in Energy Plaza in 1984, just a year after the building opened, Hong Kong’s economy was booming.

Tsim Sha Tsui East was a burgeoning business centre at the time, teeming not only with offices but also with nightclubs, discotheques, and restaurants. Shimada recalled that Energy Plaza’s basement housed a popular discotheque back then.

Ippei-an operated from 12pm to 12am, serving mainly white-collar office workers during the day and predominantly clubbers and hostesses at night.

“It was a time when everybody came [to Tsim Sha Tsui] to enjoy themselves. One person could spend HK$2,000, HK$3,000 in one night [at a nightclub], giving HK$1,000 in tips,” Shimada said.

Born in Japan, Shimada never imagined a life in Hong Kong. However, her parents were adventurers who loved travelling to different countries, she said.

In her youth, her mother was a dancer with the renowned Shochiku Kagekidan – Tokyo’s legendary all-female revue, while her father was a manager there. They often travelled abroad for performances as well as for pleasure. After Shimada’s mother retired from dancing, the couple opened a snack bar named Ippei in Tokyo.

“But they didn’t want to just run a small shop in Tokyo. They hoped to explore other opportunities,” said Shimada. Her parents chose Hong Kong because they had friends in the city.

The couple also wanted her to go with them, she said, “because I was their only child.”

After a few years of settling in, they opened a karaoke nightclub in Tsim Sha Tsui in 1978, introducing karaoke, which had become popular in Japan, to Hong Kong.

There were no karaoke venues in Hong Kong at the time, Shimada said. “My parents shipped karaoke equipment from Japan to Hong Kong. But at that time, there were no private rooms. People just sang in the hall.”

After marrying in Japan, Shimada’s then-husband also moved to Hong Kong to assist her parents with the nightclub business. The young couple got divorced a few years later, leaving Shimada to raise her two sons.

To support her family, Shimada decided to follow in her parents’ footsteps and become an entrepreneur. Instead of running a nightclub, she was more interested in the catering business.

“Coincidentally, a friend introduced me to the owner of a renowned Nagasaki ramen restaurant. I ganbatte [persevered] and went to Nagasaki many times to beg him to teach me the recipe, especially the soy sauce-based broth,” Shimada said.

Back then, there were no ramen restaurants in Hong Kong, Shimada said, yet she found the courage to be the first entrepreneur to introduce authentic Japanese ramen to the Chinese-majority population.

She called the restaurant Ippei-an – an homage to her parents’ snack bar in Tokyo.

“I was too naive to be scared,” she said, laughing.

Yet, people usually become more cautious as they gain experience, she added. “Twenty years later, when I opened the second restaurant, I was very worried. Because I was already professional.”

‘Invisible hands’

Shimada said that in the 1980s, there were not many Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong, and it was difficult for her to find a Japanese chef. She employed a Hong Kong cook and shared Japanese cuisine recipes with him.

“We couldn’t sell just ramen. So I also offered a variety of Japanese dishes. It’s like what I make at home, bringing people the taste of a mother’s cooking,” she said. Apart from ramen and dumplings, Ippei-an served dishes such as sizzling tofu and clam butter stir-fry.

“Back then in Hong Kong, there weren’t many types of Japanese seasonings available – unlike today, when there are so many available in the supermarkets – so I used to make a lot of sauces myself. Many years later, the chef at our new restaurant was so surprised that we made so many sauces,” Shimada said, giggling.

She juggled life as a working mother. Her parents helped her take care of her two sons, but she made sure to spend time with them. She rushed home every afternoon after the restaurant’s lunch hours, had an early dinner with the children, and headed back to Energy Plaza to work until midnight.

At the time, as many Japanese companies opened offices in Tsim Sha Tsui East, their staff frequented the ramen restaurant. It was where she found a second chance at love.

“I met my husband in the restaurant. He was my customer. He worked at a Japanese company nearby and came to Ippei-an for meals,” Shimada said.

In the early 1990s, she remarried. She thought of returning to Japan once in a while, but she found more opportunities in Hong Kong.

“It was like invisible hands pushing me forward. Other shopping malls invited me to open new restaurants in their venues, ” Shimada said.

In May 2005, she opened an Ippei-an branch in Mira Place and another in Elements, in West Kowloon, in 2007.

At the Mira Place branch, Shimada introduced a dual-concept model. During the day, the focus was on ramen and Japanese set meals. Late at night, the venue transitioned into a Japanese bistro, complete with dimmed lights and candles.

The restaurant capitalised on Hong Kong’s late-night lifestyle. After drinking at bars in Tsim Sha Tsui, customers would head to Ippei-an for comfort food and another round of drinks.

In 2007, Kamatani joined his mother to run the restaurant business. They opened ramen restaurants under a new brand, as well as a Japanese dessert shop.

Finding her roots

The mother-and-son team ran 11 restaurants across the city at their heyday in the early 2010s.

However, around 10 years ago, Kamatani began to notice a drop in business as more Japanese restaurants opened in Hong Kong. Then came the worst.

“Business became unstable during the 2019 social movement. And it was hard during the Covid-19 pandemic, but we tried to cut our costs, with some staff on unpaid leave,” said Kamatani, 43.

“To our surprise, business did not recover after the government lifted all Covid-19 restrictions in early 2023,” he said. He estimated that revenue had dropped by around 30 per cent compared with the pre-pandemic period.

The city’s catering sector has been hit by a wave of closures since 2024. Some entrepreneurs blamed the sluggish business on the mass emigration. Since the border reopened after the pandemic, Hongkongers have flocked to nearby mainland Chinese cities for more affordable meals and entertainment.

Shimada has also noticed some changes: Hong Kong residents are seeking lower prices while mainland Chinese chains are entering the market, offering cheaper options. Main roads in prime shopping areas, such as Nathan Road, have many empty shops.

Her son pointed out that operating a restaurant entails “lots of financial burdens,” such as rent, staff salaries and payments to food suppliers. “Running a catering business in Hong Kong, you’ll probably suffer from mental illness,” Kamatani quipped.

Sometimes Shimada regrets not having purchased a commercial property in Hong Kong.

“I was always thinking maybe I would return to Japan one day. But many things happened, and somehow I stayed here, ” Shimada said. “Now, when I return to Japan, my relatives say I don’t look like a Japanese person anymore.”

After her father died in the early 1990s, the family closed down the karaoke nightclub. Shimada remained in the city to take care of her mother, who died years later.

Shimada mostly retired from restaurants around 10 years ago to focus on caring for her husband, who had Alzheimer’s disease.

Her husband passed away in January. In the same month, Kamatani decided to close the Ippei-an branch in Mira Place.

Their lives are currently in transition. Kamatani is looking for an opportunity as a catering consultant in Europe, while Shimada is considering returning to manage Ippei-an.

The septuagenarian entrepreneur said she was uncertain about Hong Kong’s business prospects but wanted to continue running Ippei-an.

“Many regulars love it here. Some have dined here for many years and later came with their children, their grandchildren,” she said. “I always love seeing some customers sitting cross-legged here, which means they feel comfortable” – just as they are at home.

Recently, their business has been on the rise again, thanks to some foodie YouTubers. People are dining at Ippei-an not only for the noodles but also for the 1980s nostalgia. The landlord of Energy Plaza is being helpful, offering lower rent to its four-decade-long tenant.

“This is my root. I hope it can continue. My wish is that everyone feels happy,” Shimada said. “It feels like home here.”

Two giant pandas from China are headed to Atlanta on a new 10-year conservation deal.

Pandas Ping Ping, a male, and Fu Shuang, a female, will live at Zoo Atlanta, China Wildlife Conservation Association said in a statement Friday.

The organization signed the research agreement with the United States zoo last year, it said, noting the deal continues “the ‘panda bond’ shared by the people of both nations for more than 20 years”.

The panda pair come from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwestern Sichuan province, according to the statement.

“Zoo Atlanta is delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species,” the zoo’s president Raymond B. King said in a statement.

“We can’t wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang.”

The zoo welcomed its first giant pandas Yang Yang and Lun Lun when they arrived in 1999.

That pair produced seven cubs over a 25-year agreement before returning to China with their two youngest in 2024, when that deal expired.

The US side has prepared for Ping Ping and Fu Shuang’s arrival by renovating their habitat to make it “more comfortable and more safe”, the Chinese association said.

The panda news comes as US President Donald Trump is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing next month.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday the new deal “will contribute to the well-being of giant pandas… and the friendship between the people of China and the US”.

By Laurence Benhamou

Chinese carmakers have quickly built up their presence in the lucrative European auto market, buoyed by technological advances their competitors are trying to copy, and analysts say their next step is to begin producing locally.

Largely unknown in the continent three years ago, brands including BYD, Chery, Geely and XPeng achieved a nine percent share of European sales in March — and 14 percent of electric cars — according to Dataforce.

That has doubled in a year, and some models even rank among the top sellers in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Their success is shaking up European manufacturers, weakened by a domestic market that has shrunk by a quarter since 2019 and wrong-footed by European Union plans to make 90 percent of all cars sold electric by 2035.

The policy has come at just the right time for Chinese manufacturers, who are far ahead in the electric segment at home, thanks to strong state support.

“Europe, one of the only major global markets, is a natural outlet for Chinese carmakers,” said Jamel Taganza, head of the consulting firm Inovev.

“The EU’s plan for electric cars was practically made for them; it opened up the European market to them in a very short time.”

Exports are an even greater necessity for Chinese firms than their European rivals because they face significant overcapacity.

Their plants are running at only 50 percent of their potential, compared with around 60 percent for European companies, Alexandre Marian, an analyst at AlixPartners, pointed out.

“The Chinese manufacturers’ strengths are not just labour costs; it’s innovation,” added Michael Foundoukidis, an automotive analyst at Oddo.

“In China today, they’re offering vehicles that are twice as efficient for half the price” of European models.

The next step is to produce locally.

“All manufacturers believe that if you want to gain a foothold in a market, it’s easier to produce locally to avoid customs duties and transport issues,” said Lionel French Keogh, sales director of Chery France, which aims to build a small electric city car in Europe.

“If they want to sustainably exceed a 10 percent market share in Europe, they will have no choice but to assemble in Europe,” confirmed Foundoukidis.

Europe fights back

EU customs barriers on imported electric cars — imposed in 2024 — are encouraging this shift.

BYD is building a plant in Hungary, while Leapmotor — a Stellantis partner — plans to produce two models in a Stellantis factory in Zaragoza, Spain.

Reports also say Stellantis is considering making Leapmotor models in Spain under the Opel brand.

And XPeng is assembling knock-down kits in Austria.

To fight back, European manufacturers have adopted the same strategy the Chinese used in the 2000s: learning from competitors via joint ventures.

Examples include Stellantis with Leapmotor and Volkswagen with Xpeng, which is launching a first jointly developed electric model for the Chinese market.

Meanwhile, Renault has teamed up with Geely for internal combustion and hybrid engines.

This is a “reverse joint venture”, said AlixPartners analyst Marian.

Chery’s French Keogh added that European manufacturers “are seeking these alliances to learn Chinese know-how in electric vehicles”.

“It’s a complete reversal of the situation: for a long time, Europeans were condescending toward Chinese manufacturers, seen as mere imitators.”

Renault has decided to imitate the Chinese by developing its new models in two years, and has entrusted the development of its electric Twingo to its research and development centre in China.

The game is not lost for the Europeans, in Foundoukidis’s view, “as long as traditional manufacturers step up their competitiveness efforts to catch up with their Chinese rivals over the next two or three years”.

But they may be forced to cut capacity in Europe, or even close plants.

This is the case in Poissy, in the Paris region, where Stellantis has decided to halt car production, while Volkswagen has decided to make major staff cuts and reduce its global capacity by a million units.

“We must not underestimate the ability of European manufacturers to react,” adds Taganza.

Renault’s Twingo will be a test, as will the strategic plan Stellantis is due to announce on May 21.

In the meantime, BYD has applied to join the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

“No decision yet,” a spokeswoman for the ACEA said, as it requires “an established industrial presence in Europe”.