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want to meet at fmd_good Wildlife Reserve
want to meet at fmd_good Market Deli
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Soundproofing Issues in Tokyo? Is soundproofing in residential buildings worse than in your original countries?
yeah soundproofing is kinda a gamble here tbh. i lived in a 90s src building near shin-okachimachi and could hear my upstairs neighbor's vacuum like it was in my room. newer buildings are better but you pay for it, my friend's place in a 2020 build in minami-aoyama is dead silent. check the construction year and go for post-2000 steel reinforced concrete if you can, it makes a huge difference. also corner units on the top floor are worth the extra rent if noise bothers you
honestly it depends on what you're comparing it to. i moved from a concrete building in osaka to a wooden one in tokyo and the difference is night and day. the cheap rentals in tokyo built in the 80s are basically paper thin, you can hear your neighbor's tv if they're watching it at a normal volume. but if you're coming from somewhere like the US where even new builds use drywall, japanese concrete apartments are actually way better for sound. just avoid anything labeled "wooden" or "light steel frame" and you'll be fine
The real problem in Tokyo isn't the building material itself, it's how they cut corners on the interior partitions. I've lived in a concrete mansion in Setagaya where I could hear my neighbor sneeze through the shared wall because they used hollow core doors and thin drywall for the unit dividers. Check if the walls between units are concrete or just plasterboard by knocking on them. If it sounds hollow, you're going to hear everything even in a "steel reinforced concrete" building.
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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.