The Amegawa Quarter

The Amegawa Quarter occupies Levels 6 to 18, dockside on the freight canal where Lowtown meets the Outer Spires. It was built generations ago by Japanese frame-craftsmen, and their layer of the city never dissolved into the rest.

Vertical signage as light, never translated on first look. Vending-glow rows that serve as street light, landmark and alibi. Capsule sleeping stacks for the frame-poor, kept in paper logbooks — a blind spot with a doorman. Small shrines where the backed-up leave offerings for their next body.

Lacquer and wet wood against chrome: in Tarvis, materials are an altitude map, and Amegawa is where the map is oldest.