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Where to make personalised wallets or gift?
honestly check out the leather workshops in Kappabashi, that's the kitchen town area but they have a few small leather shops tucked in between the knife stores. one place called "Leather Factory" on the main street lets you pick the leather and stamp initials on the spot, prices start around 8000 yen for a simple bifold
if you want something more unique theres a guy in Koenji who runs a tiny atelier called "Hana Leather" he does custom orders but you gotta visit in person and it takes about two weeks. he uses vegetable tanned leather from Himeji which ages really nicely
otherwise Shibuya Hikarie has a "Miyabi" shop on the 5th floor that does laser engraving on ready-made wallets you can pick from their display. takes like 30 minutes and costs maybe 3000 yen extra on top of the wallet price
If you're open to something beyond wallets, the Ginza Kanmi shop in Nihonbashi does custom leather card cases and coin purses with hand-stamped patterns. They let you pick the thread color and edge paint, which is a nice touch. Prices are around 12,000 yen and they usually finish in a week.
For a more hands-on experience, there's a workshop in Asakusa called "Leather Craft Studio" where you can make a wallet from scratch with their guidance. It takes about 3 hours and costs 8,000 yen, but you'll need to book a few days ahead. The staff speaks some English and they have a good selection of Italian leather.
for something quick and easy, the tokyo station character street has a few leather stamping kiosks where you can pick a basic cardholder and get initials or a small design pressed in while u wait. costs like 2000-4000 yen extra depending on the design
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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