Google Maps Reviews
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- Feb 25
- 3 min read
Act 1
INT. LIVING ROOM - 11:30
Sunlight, pale and weak, filters through a window. PETER sits on a sofa, scrolling on his phone, the glow reflecting on his glasses.
PETER (V.O.): ...so the real value isn't the maps themselves, it's the user data, the photos, the reviews...they build a comprehensive layer on top of the physical world...
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Haneda...Asahikawa...Feb 6-10, 2026.
Checking his photo app, Peter smiles softly.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The joy is still there.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I was so preoccupied during and after the trip that I haven't written most of the reviews I intended to.
Peter taps Google Maps, and then types carefully "Asahikawa Winter Festival". The location pops up. He clicks Contribute.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Let me add the photos first...a picture is worth a thousand words.
After uploading the photos, Peter begins to type, his expression focused and content.
Act 2
FLASHBACK
EXT. TOKIWA PARK, ASAHIKAWA - 17:00 (FEB 7, 2026)
A signboard: Asahikawa Winter Festival 2026. Peter and his wife arrive.
WIFE: The venue pales in comparison to Odori.
PETER: Told you. Sapporo's the big show. Otaru is all romance and glassworks.
WIFE: I believe there's a snow maze here.
PETER: Good. That's makes a difference.
Soon, they stand at the entrance of the snow maze, peering into the corridor of snow.
WIFE: If the snow maze gets us lost, we'll meet back at the entrance.
They step inside. Take a left, then a right, and then another left that seems to lead them back where they started. Later, they reach a fork.
PETER: Let's take our own path.
Soon, Peter finds a dead end. He turns around, go the other way and then sees his wife.
WIFE: Being lost?
PETER: Being lost together.
They hang out in a corner, taking photos together. Above them, the sky is ink-blue.
PETER (V.O.): My wife came for the big snow sculptures...this is an active part.
Soon, they exit the snow maze.
WIFE: I believe we've seen everything...
PETER: Yes... it's very cold here.
WIFE: We'll come again tomorrow night, as the Feb 6 fireworks, due to weather, has been postponed to Feb 8.
PETER: A windfall for us!
EXT. TOKIWA PARK, ASAHIKAWA - 19:30 (FEB 8, 2026)
Peter and his wife stand among the CROWD. With a whoosh and a crack, fireworks explode overhead.
PETER (V. O.): This is our first time watching fireworks in -8 degree Celsius.
EXT. HEIWA DORI SHOPPING STREET, ASAHIKAWA - 20:30 (FEB 8, 2026)
Snow falls steadily, silently. The street is a corridor of illuminated ice sculptures. Peter and his WIFE walk hand-in-hand.
PETER: They're beautiful, intricate and a bit larger than those in Susukino.
WIFE: It's so quiet here.
They stop to admire perfectly crafted ie statues and take photos.
RETURN TO PRESENT
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A photo captures the light. A review captures the shadow it left behind.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Six years ago, my first visit to the Asahikawa Winter Festival was a solo trip.
Peter finishes typing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I took a bus from Sapporo to Asahikawa, walked to the Festival venue and returned to Sapporo by train before it got dark.
He clicks Post.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I just wanted to see it. Tick the box.
Act 3
INT. LIVING ROOM - 22:30
Peter uploads a chart showing all-time photo views reaching 163,943,142 with a note that 100 photos were added on Feb 24 and contribution have 174M views to a draft on his laptop.
PETER (V.O.): Google Maps reviews are about convincing myself that I was really there, that the trip mattered. I'm my own audience.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I didn't write the reviews for Google. I wrote the reviews so my February 2026 trip with my wife to Asahikawa will never go away.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In a thousand years, archeologists will dig up the hard drives and find the Google Maps reviews. They will think they're our poetry.
The END
FADE OUT
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