A Wasted Weekend

Every Saturday morning when I wake up, I ask myself in my mind: How's my week been so far? What exactly did I do this week?

So, on Friday I've replied all remaining emails (at last) that have been waiting for me to reply so far this year. This week (as usual) I helped to restore some accounts and pages, which I know matter a lot to those who were previously affected. I'm also delighted we took down some unsafe content quickly for our users in Central Asia. My team fixed a draft plan (finally!) for a new project to launch. I hope I can share more good news soon.

My done list and to-do list can go on. I keep learning how to prioritize and how to take best use of my time, but I'm also reminded repeatedly sometimes some "small things" do matter too.

A reasonable sense of accomplishment can make me feel my life more complete and also help me to sleep better at night (well, I mean, usually after midnight). I also felt very accomplished whenever I can find a good bowl of ramen. After all, the taste of our good life is not only about work.

I don't usually waste time but I do like to "waste" my time on weekends. Someone once said: "A weekend wasted isn’t a wasted weekend."

Indeed.

Ramen Cubism

As the first #ramen restaurant outside of its native Osaka, the Hong Kong branch of Ramen Cubism is co-presented by Japan’s ramen personalities Hayashi Takao and Matsumura Takahiro.

Ramen Cubism, located in a very low-profile basement under an old office building in Central, presents five ramen varieties; one of which is limited to 200 servings a day, together with a handful of snacks on the side like my favourite fried chicken of course.

It first opened for business in early 2019 and has so far kept running well despite the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. During busy lunchtime on workdays, you may have to queue for 30 minutes to get a table.

Well, Hongkongers just like queuing for almost everything. Don’t we?

What does Public Policy do?

“During this period of immense change, this Public Policy role has never been more important. This role will seek to contribute to the debate on issues of high on the agenda of governments, regulators ...”

Just happened to know a big firm is hiring a public policy leader in Hong Kong. This is encouraging news — NOT because I have any intent to change my job but I’m pleased to see more and more corporates can understand the value of “public policy” work, which to be honest is not very easy to describe.

I still remember when I first got into my policy career and I went to a forum, a stranger looked at my business card and asked me: “Head of Policy? What do you do? Sell insurance?”

Given how fast and how dramatic the world has developed in recent years, I guess now more and more people do understand the importance of the policy profession.

I always consider public policy job as a de facto “ambassador” role, or like a “business diplomat”, to keep the world closer together, and to get more parties to understand each other. I do hope so.

Impact, Reflection, and Appreciation

January 4th this year marks the 5th anniversary (we call it "Faceversary") for me at Facebook.

It's been a really incredible journey: We've covered quite a number of key elections from Hong Kong, Taipei, and to Ulaanbaatar, several earthquakes and typhoons (unfortunately), social unrest and constitutional crisis, and not to mention the Covid-19 pandemic in the unprecedented year of 2020 for everyone. We also saved some lives in the real world, thanks to Facebook's suicide prevention tools and our fantastic safety partners on the ground.

For me it's a journey of impact, reflection, and appreciation. As we always say at Facebook, my journey is only 1% finished.

Thank you. Onwards.

Highlight photos:

• I helped to design our first-ever Asia Pacific Public Policy team T-shirt in 2018.

• Over two million people took to the streets to protest in Hong Kong in 2019. Beijing imposed the controversial National Security Law on Hong Kong in the following year.

• Represented Facebook for a closed-door hearing held by National Communications Commission about misinformation in Taiwan in 2017.

• Welcome Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to visit our new (and bigger) Facebook Taiwan Office in May 2019.

• Launched Facebook’s "Made by Taiwan, Loved by the World" campaign in 2017 to put more Taiwan brands on world map.

• Hosted Hong Kong's former Financial Secretary John Tsang to visit Facebook Hong Kong Office in 2017 as he ran for the Chief Executive election.

• US Ambassador to Mongolia Michael Klecheski visited the Facebook booth during the ICT Expo 2020 hosted by Communications and Information Tech Authority in Ulaanbaatar.

• A 2018 “international media tour” in Hong Kong, including a visit to CNN Asia Pacific News Centre.

• Facebook Taiwan Office received the “Presidential Medal of Appreciation” in November 2020 for our work on the Covid-19 pandemic in Taiwan.

Teppanyaki in Hong Kong

I’m a big fan of teppanyaki.

Around this time last year I was in Osaka for a feast at Misono, the originator of the teppanyaki-style steakhouse in Japan since 1945. As we cannot travel nowadays, let’s find some high-quality teppanyaki this year in Hong Kong.

It’s actually quite a debate over who created the cuisine of teppanyaki in the 1940s. The American will say teppanyaki has been no stranger to them since it’s quite similar to the way how American-style BBQ is cooked. Just putting meat on fire, right? The Japanese may argue teppanyaki only became more artistic when it was born in Japan — to be more specific, in Kobe, which is of course famous for its wagyu.

Outside Japan, there have been also quite a number of good teppanyaki restaurants in Taiwan, which was under Japanese rule for decades before the World War II ended. One of my favorite teppanyaki restaurants in Taipei is called Da Wan (大腕), which can be translated as VIP or “big brother”. I highly recommend.

It really needs a lot of courage to open new restaurants in the crazy year of 2020. Crown Super Deluxe at the heart of Lan Kwai Fong did so. The new teppanyaki restaurant, a member of Black Sheep, which is also a local catering vendor of Cathay Pacific, opened its door in July, positioning it as the best (and a bit pricy) wagyu teppanyaki you can find in Hong Kong.

Crown Super Deluxe is led by Chef Toru Takano. Originally hailing from Niigata City in Niigata Prefecture, known for its rice, sake and cold, snowy winters, Toru first fell in love with hospitality while still in high school and working part-time at a local cafe. He found joy in both cooking and also in meeting new people across a counter. 

In Japan there is a term with its roots in tea ceremony called omotenashi, it roughly means to wholeheartedly look after guests. This is a sense that goes beyond the customer always being right but rather a deeper understanding that there are no menial tasks if the result is a great experience for your guests. That’s Chef Toru’s belief. Indeed, that sounds very Japanese.

The wagyu here is all imported from Kagoshima, which offers very soft and fresh taste. For both “meat and sea” lovers, adding lobster and scallop will definitely make your culinary journey feel more completed.

The restaurant also has an in-house magician / mentalist whose name is Stuart. That’s really a highlight, seriously. He can see through your mind. Try him.