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Street drinking in Shibuya? Banned?
Pls help me fulfil my fantasy of sitting for a drink and watching the crossing I keep reading all this stuff about street drinking in Shibuya being banned but is that true?? Or just certain places??
Pls help me fulfil my fantasy of sitting for a drink and watching the crossing
The ban is real but it's targeted at specific spots around the station and the scramble itself, usually after 6pm on weekends and holidays. You won't get hassled if you walk five minutes down Meiji-dori toward Harajuku or duck into the side alleys past Don Quijote.
For watching the crossing without the risk, there's a Starbucks on the second floor of the Tsutaya building that has big windows facing it. Grab a drink there and you get the full view without standing in the crowd. The line moves fast enough.
yeah the ban is real but it's mostly just halloween and new years eve enforcement now. during normal weekends they only ticket people who are being loud or blocking foot traffic near the crossing
my move is to grab something from the famima on dogenzaka and walk up toward love hotel hill. there's a little stair landing halfway up where you can sit and see the crossing from above without being right in the chaos. plus you get to watch all the giant ads changing colors which is lowkey the best part
tbh the ban is real but it's super specific. they banned drinking on the street around Shibuya station and the crossing area during certain hours, mostly evenings and weekends. it's been a thing since like 2019 but they ramped it up after halloween chaos
but honestly you can still do it if you're not a total idiot. grab a can from 7/11 and walk a block away from the crossing towards Center Gai or the backstreets near Nonbei Yokocho. nobody's gonna bother u there. the cops are just trying to stop the huge groups of drunk tourists blocking the sidewalk
fwiw I'd go to Miyashita Park rooftop instead. you can grab a beer from the convenience store downstairs and sit on the grass with a perfect view of the crossing from above. way less stress, same vibe
Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.
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