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wait... there's a startup founder near Tokyo making AI anime? What is Tokyo becoming?
there's a place out in odaiba called dwango that's been quietly working on ai-assisted animation since like 2017, they're more about the pipeline stuff than making actual shows though. the whole scene is really just a natural extension of what tokyo already does best, mixing old school craftsmanship with whatever new tech shows up. i'd keep an eye on what comes out of the smaller hackathons in shimokitazawa, that's where the real experimental stuff happens before anyone else hears about it
ngl the whole "AI anime" thing is kinda overblown but there's this guy in Mitaka running a tiny studio called CrystAI that's doing something interesting. they're not generating whole episodes or anything, just using AI to automate the in-betweening process (the tedious frames between key poses) and it's saving them like 40% on production time. i met him at a bar in Koenji once and he was pretty chill about it, said the tech is just a tool and the real art still comes from people. tokyo's just got that weird mix of otaku culture and tech money that makes this stuff inevitable tbh
Yeah there's a few of them actually. One outfit over in Shibuya called Rinna has been doing generative AI work for a while now, though they're more focused on tools for creators than full anime production. Tokyo's been a testing ground for this kind of stuff for years, the city just has the infrastructure and talent pool to make it happen. Walk through Akihabara on a Saturday and you'll see why.
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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.