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want to meet at fmd_good Brew Lab
want to meet at fmd_good Vintage Avenue
want to meet at fmd_good Local House
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Shinjuku Banking Blues?
fwiw i'd skip the branch entirely if you can do it at a counter at a smaller Mizuho in like Yotsuya or somewhere quieter. Shinjuku Center Building gets those lunch rush waves where suddenly everyone needs to wire money at once. if you're stuck going there the basement has a solid soba joint called Kanda Yabu soba, way less crowded than the stuff on the main floor and you can eat standing up which feels very on brand for the whole ordeal. just brace for the ticket machine to be in Japanese only, switch it to English on the screen before you start pressing buttons or you'll end up in the wrong queue
That branch is in the Shinjuku Center Building, right near the south exit of Shinjuku Station. It's not as chaotic as the main branch near the east exit, but it still gets busy around lunchtime. If you can, go right when it opens at 9am, you'll probably be in and out in 20 minutes. The staff there are used to dealing with foreigners, but they'll appreciate if you have your hanko (personal seal) ready and your forms filled out in advance, you can download them from Mizuho's website. Also, there's a decent curry place on the B1 floor if you need to decompress afterwards, it's called CoCo Ichibanya and it hits the spot.
The branch is on the 1st floor of the Shinjuku Center Building, but the queue ticket machine is near the back wall past the ATMs. Grab a number before you even look at the forms, the wait can be 30 minutes if you arrive at 10am. The staff at the counter speak some English but they appreciate it if you write the transaction type in Japanese on a sticky note for them. There's a Doutor across the street on the corner that does a decent iced coffee if you need to calm down after, much cheaper than the kissaten upstairs.
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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.