For nearly two years, Hangzhou was two points on a map and the sidewalk between them: a hotel and a twenty-two-floor tower that J Group owned in full, where every desk on every floor drew salary from the same payroll. I rode those elevators twenty times a day. There is a Chinese phrase, xiǎo guǐ nán chán — little devils are hardest to deal with — and the tower was its built form. By summer 2018 I had decided to walk away. Chinese business relationships, like the last baijiu of the night, evaporate quietly.

In this episode: J Group, walking away from a partnership, the slow-motion exit, why I went back to a small office in Fukuoka.

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⚠️ Personal reflections only. Not medical practice, diagnosis, or treatment advice. Please consult your physician. Names have been changed.