Randy approaches Kinakuta and sees a spectacular island rising from the sea, its rugged interior and flat coastal fringe transformed by massive oil development and radical urban reconstruction. The experience feels like “a propaganda flyby” (201). Kinakuta City appears ultramodern, built on dredged river channels, dynamited mountains, and reclaimed land, with glass skyscrapers surrounding the ancient sultan’s palace.

Comparing the view with a World War II map, Randy identifies former Japanese military sites now replaced by construction. One feature unsettles him: a walled Japanese garden with a pond, shrine, and teahouse, strikingly out of place. He realizes that most of the Japanese passengers on his flight, elderly tour groups, are heading there. The garden sits atop a “mass grave” (203) holding 3,500 Japanese soldiers killed in August 1945, turning the site into a quiet memorial embedded within the futuristic city.

Lawrence searches for Qwghlm House among eccentric London societies and discovers a bizarre display of local wool, guano, and militaristic symbolism reflecting the (fictional) Qwghlmian culture, much of which appears Celtic but is actually Qwghlmian.

After being admitted by a taciturn guard, he passes through a series of ornate rooms into a richly decorated interior filled with portraits and bleak seascapes.