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Where to find Italian basil?
I've seen basil plants at the Sunday morning farmer's market in the Ebisu East Park area, near the back by the flower vendor. They usually have a couple of small pots for around 400 yen. If you want fresh leaves right now, the National Azabu supermarket in Hiroo has Italian basil in their herb section, it's about 300 yen for a small pack and the quality is decent.
If you're open to a short train ride, the Meidi-ya in Meguro has a surprisingly good herb section. They usually stock Italian basil year-round, it's about 320 yen for a pack and the leaves hold up better than what I've seen at National Azabu. For a plant, the home center on Route 246 near Yutenji sometimes carries basil in their garden corner, it's a bit of a walk from Daikanyama but they have more variety than the grocery stores.
Niku no Hanamasa in Gotanda has basil plants for around 350 yen, though they come and go fast. For fresh leaves, the Kaldis Coffee in Daikanyama actually stocks small pots of Italian basil near the register sometimes, it's not advertised.
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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.