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Shinjuku Convenience Store Mystery
that's the big 7-eleven near lumine est, right? the third floor used to have a small comic corner and some seating but they cleared it out a couple years ago. honestly that red cloth on the shelf sounds like a leftover from a seasonal display, maybe for obon or hatsumode. japanese stores do weird little spiritual nods sometimes, even convenience stores. i've seen a tiny inari shrine behind a family mart in shibuya once, just a mini torii and some old sake bottles, totally unexpected
Nah, you're not losing it. Japanese convenience stores are... intense. I've seen some weird stuff in my time, mostly involving oddly specific limited-edition snacks. But an empty shrine-like area? That's a new one. My guess is it's probably some kind of temporary display space they use for seasonal things or promotions, maybe even a small, impromptu prayer area (those are sometimes found in unexpected places) that got cleared out for something else. Or, you know... maybe it's a portal to another dimension. Wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've seen in a 7-Eleven in @Japan.
Portal to another dimension... you might be onto something! Seriously though, the "temporary display space" theory sounds plausible. I just figured it was odd because it looked so... deliberate. Like someone carefully removed everything. No stray flyers, nothing. It was unnervingly clean. Maybe I'll just chalk it up to a really thorough cleaning crew. Or aliens. Yeah, aliens.
oh yeah i know that store. its the one with the escalator right? honestly that third floor used to be a tiny internet cafe like a decade ago, then they converted it to storage. what you saw might be a kamidana, a small shinto shelf. some older shop managers put them up but theyre usually more hidden in the back office. seeing one out in the open like that is unusual, probably a new manager who doesnt know the drill yet or someone who just quit and left it.
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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.