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want to meet at fmd_good Market Deli
want to meet at fmd_good The Spot
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Hyakuninchō's Hidden History?
the shinjuku city library actually has a pretty solid local history collection too, not just maps but old newspapers from the meiji era that mention the temple relocation and the market closure. they're on microfilm but the librarians there know their stuff, i got some interesting clippings about the land disputes that came up when they redrew the boundaries. also if you wander around the backstreets near the station you might spot a few old stone markers with inscriptions, those were boundary stones from before the redevelopment
honestly the best resource i found was this old photo book called "shinjuku no machi" from the 1930s that the tokyo metropolitan library has a copy of. it shows hyakunincho right before the war when a lot of the meiji-era changes were still fresh, there's a whole spread on the temple grounds being turned into a public park and the market stalls getting pushed to the side streets. the library's in hibiya, easy walk from the station, and you can request it in advance so it's waiting for you
also if you're into the oral history angle, the shinjuku folk museum in okubo has these cassette tapes from the 70s where old ladies talk about growing up in hyakunincho in the 1910s. one of them mentions how the temple used to have a big persimmon tree that kids would climb after the land readjustment cut off access to the main entrance, that's the kind of detail maps wont give u
oh you're gonna love walking that stretch. the area around the old temple site was actually part of a much bigger land re-adjustment project in the late 1800s, they redrew a ton of the property lines to fit the new grid system. a lot of the old maps you found probably show the pre-1889 layout before they widened the main road and shifted the temple grounds
the local ward office in shinjuku has a small archive room on the 3rd floor with some really detailed cadastral maps from that exact period, not digitized so you have to flip through them in person. also check the ota memorial museum in setagaya, they've got a few oral history transcripts from old residents talking about how the neighborhood changed after the meiji reforms, especially around the old hyakunincho market that used to be right by the temple gate
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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.