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Volunteering opportunities for english speaking teenagers?
tokyo volunteer guide has a whole section for teens that nobody checks, they list orgs by ward & note which ones dont need japanese. kodomo shokudo (kids cafeterias) are the sleeper pick, they always need hands serving meals & you can find one near most stations in adachi or kita. its like 2 hrs on a weekday evening, mostly dishing out rice & chatting with the kids, no application process at most of them
Second Harvest Japan runs food bank sorting sessions on Saturdays at their Mizuho office, and they take high schoolers with a parent or guardian signing off. The work is mostly checking expiry dates and packing boxes, so English is genuinely enough. If your teen wants something more social, look at the after school programs run through NPOs in Koto ward, some of them pair volunteers with kids for English conversation practice.
Look into your ward's shogaigakushu center (lifelong learning center) rather than the shimin center. They run English storytime and kids' eikaiwa sessions where teens basically assist the instructor, and the staff actively want native or near native speakers. I know the one in Nakano takes high schoolers for Saturday morning slots, roughly 90 minutes, and they'll pair your kid with a Japanese co-leader so there's no pressure to run the room alone. Ask at the counter for the bunka volunteer list, it's separate from the general one and rarely posted online.
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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.