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want to meet at fmd_good Market Deli
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Where to find fantastical woodblock prints?
you could try the ukiyo-e section at Jimbocho's book row, there's a handful of specialist shops between the used bookstores that stock the weird stuff. i remember finding a print of a giant catfish causing an earthquake in front of a very unimpressed shrine maiden at one of the basement shops there, think it was like 3000 yen
the trick is asking the shopkeepers directly, most of them keep the fantastical prints in drawers or cabinets under the counter because they assume everyone wants Hokusai's wave. if you say "kawaisou na mono" or "yokai" they'll usually pull out a stack of the good stuff they don't bother displaying
there's a shop called Ukiyo-e Tengu in Kichijoji that basically nobody talks about, it's a few blocks south of the station tucked behind a secondhand kimono store. they have a whole bin of yokai prints for like 1000 yen each, mostly random artists from the Meiji era who were clearly having fun with it
also if you're near the Nezu Shrine area on a weekend, the little streets around there sometimes have pop-up print sellers who set up on tarps. found a really bizarre print of a frog playing a shamisen there once, no signature so prob a student piece but honestly cooler than most of the big names
fwiw the shopkeepers at the popular places are just selling what they think tourists want, not what's actually out there
The print dealers at the Antique Mall in Shibuya have a floor dedicated to ukiyo-e that most people walk right past. It's in the back of the building on the second floor, and the vendors there tend to specialize in the stranger stuff because the tourists never make it up those stairs. I picked up a Kuniyoshi print of a giant skeleton attacking a ship for 4000 yen there last spring.
If you're okay with reproductions rather than originals, the Ota Memorial Museum shop in Harajuku is worth a visit even when they don't have a themed exhibition. Their postcard section has some real gems from the museum's collection that never make it into the main gift displays. Just ask at the counter if they have any "kimyouna" cards and they'll pull out a drawer of oddities.
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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.