You were born in HK, and you often go to HK on vacations. As you said "I think I had a pretty balanced mix of eastern and western culture / pop culture growing up". What is something special from HK [pop] culture you also got since childhood? Any inspirational things?
Growing up before the internet, my only access to Japanese anime was actually through Hong Kong television. It was all dubbed in cantonese but I didn't know the difference at the time. I'd get my uncle to record them on VHS then sent to me in Australia. Stuff like Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya etc. I couldn't get enough of it and would watch those tapes on repeat.
Then as I got older into teenage years, during what you can possibly call my 'rebellious phase', I became obsessed with a of Hong Kong film franchise called "The Young and Dangerous". It was a series of badass films about the HK triads/ gangsters and I thought those characters were like the pinnacle of cool. Me and my Chinese friends would run around town dressed trying to imitate them, thinking we were all tough and stuff. Which is super funny now considering we were living in the relatively peaceful suburbs of Sydney, Australia.
The next big inspiring thing that came out of Hong Kong to me, would be in the early 2000's with Michael Lau and the birth of the designer toy scene. His 'Gardener' and then later 'Crazy Children' series blew my mind! I had never seen anything like it. I remember I had only just started working my first job at that time and spending all my pay on those toys. Truely world changing stuff for me!