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Shinjuku Convenience Store Mystery
I've eaten probably fifty onigiri from that exact Seven Eleven over the years and never had a metallic taste, but I also always grab the ones from the back of the cooler shelf, not the front where the heat lamps hit. The real issue is their turnover rate, that store restocks around 2pm and 8pm, so anything you buy outside those windows has been sitting for hours. Try the Lawson at the Okubo Station north exit instead, their onigiri are made fresh in a central kitchen in Nerima and delivered twice as often, the rice is noticeably less dry.
I know exactly which Seven Eleven you mean, the one right at the Okubo Station ticket gates. That metallic taste is almost certainly from the konbu or kombu-based filling, not the nori. Some of the cheaper seaweed stocks they use in those mass-produced onigiri have a high iodine content that hits your tongue like a coin. If you want a reliable onigiri in that area, walk a minute north toward the main Okubo-dori intersection and try the Daily Yamazaki, their rice is fluffier and they don't let things sit as long.
The metallic aftertaste could be from the nori, but honestly I think it's the pickled plum filling if you got the umeboshi one. The salt and citric acid in those can react weirdly with the plastic packaging if it's been sitting for a while. That Seven Eleven is right by the Korean town entrance on the main drag, so they get a lot of foot traffic and sometimes the stock sits longer than it should. Try the 7-Eleven a few blocks east toward Higashi-Shinjuku, it's less busy and their rice balls actually taste fresh.
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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.