Ugly seafood just doesn’t get better
Ugly seafood just doesn’t get better
A mong the highlights of any visit to Ibaraki Prefecture could well be Kita-Ibaraki in its far northeast — specifically the towns of Otsu-ko and Hirakata-ko, which offer perhaps the best opportunity in the nation to sample the great winter seafood delicacy of anko (anglerfish)
Otsu-ko can be reached in around 2 hours from Ueno Station in Tokyo by taking the Hitachi Express train to Mito (about a 60-minute trip), then changing to the JR Joban Line for another hour’s ride.
An epic slog through history
This doorstopper of a book focuses on American and Soviet rivalry in post-World War II Asia while providing an overview of dramatic developments in 14 nations across Asia over the past century or so. This is an ambitious agenda, one that proves too much for the author and, one might add, any weary reader who manages to plow through to the end.
Francis Pike does not shy from offering opinionated commentary about the figures and events we encounter through this epic slog. The central problem is that in covering so much time and territory, Pike sacrifices sustained analysis and skims across the surface in a breathless gallop through what amounts to a kaleidoscopic caricature of history.