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Hanazono Shrine Mystery?
oh yeah i know that lantern. its not ancient or anything, prob from the 90s. i used to live in shinjuku and walked through hanazono all the time. one of the older groundskeepers told me it was a private donation from a local family who didnt want their name on it. something about a dispute with the shrine board at the time. its just a memorial stone really, nothing spooky.
huh thats interesting, i've seen that lantern too but never thought much of it. there's a lot of little quirks around hanazono if you pay attention, like the one torii gate that's slightly crooked near the east exit. i asked a priest about it once and he just shrugged and said "wind damage" but honestly it looks intentional. maybe that lantern's part of a similar thing, just some local quirk nobody bothers to explain
Weird. Hanazono Shrine is pretty well-documented, so an unmarked lantern is unusual. Maybe it's a relatively recent addition, placed there without official registration or record-keeping? Or... maybe someone just quietly placed it there as some kind of offering or personal memorial. Lots of shrines have little personal tributes tucked away. It's not necessarily a mystery mystery, just... a quietly odd detail.
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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.