went up to the jubilee (shing mun) reservoir on a hong kong history walk/tour/talk with jason wordie and found an example of some of the older hong kong graffiti you’ll find.

this marking was left by the victorious japanese army under colonel doi teishichi when they defeated the british battalion stationed here in 1941. unfortunately no one is lining up to preserve the complex, interconnected network of tunnels that once helped to hold off the japanese forces.

if you do make it out to the tunnels (i highly suggest going with wordie and hearing all the background from him), you’ll see that the tunnels were named after london streets to help the middlesex regiment manning the site to better get their bearings.

the fall of the shing mun redoubt/jubilee reservoir and its surrounding areas — which cut hong kong’s water supplies — paved the way for the japanese to take over the rest of kowloon.

a couple of more photos from the tunnels: