1st November 2026 – (Hong Kong) Former AV star and Japanese-born DJ Mao Hamasaki is conscious again but still under hospital observation after a suspected spiked drink at a Tsim Sha Tsui private venue left her convulsing and testing positive for four drugs, including so-called Happy Water and ecstasy.
Her manager, Mak, first flagged the scare before dawn with a social post saying she had been “drugged while working”, alongside photos of her in a wheelchair and on an ambulance stretcher. Police said a man reported at about 4.54am that a female colleague felt unwell after a drink inside an entertainment premise at Adonda Centre, 65 Mody Road; paramedics took her to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Officers classified the case as administering poison with intent to cause harm. No arrest has been announced.
Mak said they had finished a Wan Chai DJ set when a large client pressed them to keep spinning at a private spot in Tsim Sha Tsui. He refused at first — they do not take private rooms — but agreed after assurances that friends would watch her and nobody would bother her. At the venue she lost a liar’s-dice round and had to drink. She thought the brown liquid was whisky; Mak tasted it, found it sweet, assumed a cocktail, and let her finish. He later feared it was Happy Water or similar.
She still completed another set before collapsing on a sofa. Colleagues first thought sheer exhaustion after two days of shows, then realised she was cramping and could not move. Mak demanded to see the floor manager, was told there was none, and insisted on calling police despite pressure to keep the matter quiet — worried she might lose consciousness and that hair tests in Japan could later show unexplained drugs.
He said the first emergency call met a busy reply and a suggestion they handle it themselves; after more than 15 minutes officers rang back, a white ambulance arrived within about two minutes, and she went straight to hospital. By morning, urine tests showed four drug reactions and she was seeing hallucinations; she was moved into intensive care. Mak stressed the team does not take drugs and would not shrug off foul play: they welcome normal work, he said, but are not soft targets if someone tries to mess with them.
Dr Paul Shea Tat-ming warned that Happy Water-type mixes can drive blood pressure and heart rate dangerously high — the heart vibrating rather than pumping — and that a heavy dose can starve organs of blood and cause lasting damage. Early care centres on gastric washout and checking brain and kidney injury; if the heartbeat settles quickly, recovery may take one to two weeks. Police have previously found colourless, tasteless Happy Water liquids in nightlife settings, often blending methamphetamine, ketamine, amphetamines and MDMA.
By late afternoon, Hamasaki posted that she was awake, sorry for worrying everyone, and staying in for safety on doctors’ advice. She hoped the episode would not hurt Tsim Sha Tsui nightlife, said the venue boss and shop were not directly to blame, and apologised that Mak had scolded them in the heat of the moment. With police handling the file, she would make no further public comment on details. Mak later said electrolyte levels were still high, more blood tests and medicine were due, discharge was eyed for 2nd November, and a statement at Yau Tsim district would follow.
According to further police-facing details, she had left her Wan Chai DJ bar about 1.30am for the Mody Road venue and drunk three glasses of whisky in two sittings before an unknown man handed her a drink resembling orange juice around 3.30am; she soon felt dazed and later noticed white powdery sediment in the glass. Yau Tsim District Crime Investigation Team 6 is handling the file under section 23 of the Offences Against the Person Ordinance, which makes it an indictable offence — punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment — to unlawfully and maliciously administer poison or another noxious thing intending to injure, aggrieve or annoy. Mak said hospital toxicology came back positive for four substances: cocaine, ecstasy and Happy Water.
Fellow DJ Lok Yee, who once shared the same manager, said Mak never lets artists drink casually and that when games force a forfeit he usually drinks for her unless she chooses to. Hamasaki, who holds a Hong Kong identity card and has been rebuilding as a DJ, had already finished her scenes in the HOY sitcom.
