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Allergies this week ?
I've looked up some allergies forecast websites and it says dust & da… Jesus Christ, I've been sneezing and scratching my eyes for the past 2-3 days. Anyone else in this situation ? What's the cause ?
I've looked up some allergies forecast websites and it says dust & dander. I'm not sure to grasp how that works. Why is there suddenly more dust and dander in the air ? I'm usually allergic to butakusa and kamogaya pollen (ragweed basically) but I thought it was a bit late for that...
honestly i bet it's the yellowjackets getting aggressive this time of year too. not the cause of your allergies but they've been swarming around shinjuku gyoen like crazy, stirring up whatever's on the ground. the dust reading might be legit though - they've been doing road work on meiji dori near harajuku station all week, tons of debris floating around. wash your face when you get home, it's the only thing that's helped me
You're probably still dealing with ragweed. Butakusa season runs later than people think, sometimes into late October if the weather stays warm. The dust and dander reading might actually be secondary - mold spores are also high right now after the rain we had last week, and they show up under the same category on some allergy sites.
I'd check the pollen count specifically for kusa (weed pollen) rather than general dust. The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health posts daily counts that are more specific than the big forecasting apps.
tbh i think it's the temperature swings messing with everything. we had that random warm stretch last week then it dropped like 10 degrees overnight. that confuses plants into releasing pollen in weird bursts. the dust & dander reading is probably just the general air quality filter catching everything including whatever's getting stirred up from construction and dry ground. i've been rinsing my eyes with that yellow bottle from the drugstore (アルガード or ザジテン) and it helps more than oral meds for me right now
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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.