When speaking about rice wines, one usually thinks of sake, either warmed up or drunk cold to pair with some sushi or some izakaya fare. A drink brewed from polished rice, water, yeast, and koji mould, it is one of Japan’s largest alcohol exports. However, there is another rice wine that not only has centuries … Read more
We begin our two-day trip at the airport in Naha, the rather worn-looking capital city. Tomari Iyumachi, on Naha’s harbourfront, is a small wholesale seafood market stocked with everything from tuna eyeballs to horse sashimi as well as local delicacies. Photo: Fiona Ching After figuring out how to change the navigation system on our rented … Read more
Merchants from as far as the Middle East and the Ryukyu kingdom (present-day Okinawa) called at its port. A 17th century map of Malacca. Photo: Getty Images His monumental visits, accompanied by a fleet of the biggest ships the world had ever seen at the time, spawned many stories of dubious historicity that continue to … Read more
