Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

The acting from everyone was incredible, but the story was a mess.  This movie should've been called:

Black Panther:  The Way of Water

Black Panther:  Aquaman II

A young genius girl (not Shuri) invented something that could detect vibrarium.  So the Talokans (Marvel's Atlantis) wanted to kill her; Wakandans wanted to protect her.  A third country invented an equipment with vibrarium detector installed inside hence threatened both Talokan and Wakanda.  The Not-Shuri girl, being the inventor of vibrarium detector, was the only one that knew how to destroy the vibrarium detector.  She destroyed the vibrarium detector; both Talokan and Wakanda were saved; and the third country lost.  Everyone lived happily ever after.

THIS WAS NOT WHAT HAPPENED.

Talokans fought Wakandans to a draw.  The Not-Shuri girl returned back home.  The vibrarium detector was still out there.  Nothing was resolved.  Talokans could still kill the Not-Shuri girl, and she could still continue inventing more vibrarium detector.  So the movie circled back to its beginning.  The entire movie could've ended in half an hour.

Chadwick Boseman was Marvel's King!  The way he sat, talked, walked, and gestured, royalty through and through.  How were they going to replace him?  They couldn't!

Guess what this movie needed?

CHADWICK BOSEMAN!!!  😭😭😭

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2022!

We had a stay-cation, which was consisted of a lot of desserts.

Starbucks Strawberry Latte and Cranberry Bar

Mister Donut Strawberry Donut and Pokemon Donut

Tully's Harry Potter Minced Pie Latte and Honey Milk Latte

Kanazawa

This city is so filthy rich.  So wealthy.  So much gold!  Everyone here eats gold and poops gold.  It's unbelievable.

Dragon Sunrise

King of Dragon

Royal Dragon

Desserts with Gold Flakes

Tea at dinner

Breakfast at Tokyu Stay Kanazawa

Moron Cafe

Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Beer

Dark Ale

Koshihikari Ale

Pale Ale

Shirakawa-Go UNESCO site

Shirakawa-Go was so beautiful.  It was so difficult to get to, but we got lucky.  What a beautiful sunny day.  Everything was bright and colorful.  We even hiked a tiny hill for 10 minutes.

Hida-Takayama

I don't like people driving inside old town district with tourists wandering around on the streets.  Very dangerous.  Other than that, Hida-Takayama is a cute little town.  Found a great tiny restaurant; if it were back home, it would make into our rotation of restaurants to visit.

Beautiful hotel room key cards

Delicious hotel breakfast

Oshino Hakkai

There are many tourist traps in Japan, and I generally enjoy all of them.  However, I despise Oshino Hakkai to no end.

I've been to Oshino Hakkai twice.  It is especially bad because of over-tourism.  Its over-tourism is because of the villagers' greed.

Hakkai literally translated into "Eight Oceans".  They are ponds, not oceans.  Stop bluffing and upselling it as something they are not.  A couple ponds are so small that, the shadow from three people would cover up the entire pond.  Not all nature needs to be turned into tourist sightseeing spot.  Leave nature be!

There were too many people crowding the too little ponds.  I couldn't see the ponds.  When I finally squeezed through the crowd, the pond was full of tourists' reflection.  I could barely see what was inside the water.  Supposedly there were gold fish, blue fish, and green water plants.  But no.  All I saw was the rainbow-colored clothing from the tourists.  Why would I want photos of strangers' rippling faces?

And who really counted the eight ponds?  Everyone gathered at the main pond.  There was no fence; people might fall into the water.  Nobody cared about the two ponds farther away from the main site.  For all I knew, there might be only four ponds.

The souvenir shops were the accumulation of the villagers' greed.  The entrance to the main pond was located inside the big souvenir shop.  The entire souvenir complex (from the parking lot to Oshino Hakkai, plus all the shops surrounding Hakkai) was larger than the eight ponds combined.

A person is not there to enjoy nature.  The villagers want the tourists to spend money and get out.  Don't look for the clarity and the serenity they advertised.  Everything is fake and superficial.

At other tourist traps, villagers want tourists to at least understand a little about the culture, history, and tradition.  At Oshino Hakkai, the villagers only want tourists to buy their crappy souvenirs; they don't care if the tourists actually see the eight ponds.