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Lost in Translation?
yeah the nursery is def not the move, but there's another angle nobody's touched on - you could hit up one of the old school "yochien" (kindergartens) that do open campus days. some of the private ones in setagaya or meguro have annual events where they invite the neighborhood in for a festival or sports day. the kids are performing so photos are totally fine, everyone's taking them
i stumbled into one near sangenjaya last fall by accident, they had a little market with homemade goods and the kids were doing a dance routine in these tiny happi coats. no one even looked twice at my camera. your niece would lose her mind over that kind of stuff way more than some random nursery window
if you can find dates online for "yochien matsuri" in whatever area you're staying, that's your best bet for authentic cute kid chaos without the weirdness
the replies are spot on about the nursery, but if you still want that kindergarten vibe without the creep factor, check out the "kodomo no kuni" in kichijoji. its a massive children's park with a legit old school playground and a retro train. way more relaxed for photos since its a public space, and you'll see families everywhere. plus the zoo part has these little goats that kids go nuts over, your niece would probably love the pics of those more than a random nursery anyways
fwiw there's a really good alternative that nobody's mentioned yet - the Tokyo Toy Museum in Shinjuku. it's in an old elementary school building so the whole vibe is nostalgic and kid-friendly. they have a huge indoor play area with traditional japanese wooden toys and you can actually take photos of the space itself. plus they do little workshops where kids make origami or paper crafts, your niece would prob love that more than watching kids through a fence
also if you're set on seeing kids in action, the playground at Yoyogi Park on a weekend morning is packed with families. you can sit on a bench and watch from a normal distance, nobody cares about photos of the general scene. grab a coffee from the vending machines near the entrance and just chill for 30 minutes. way less awkward than staking out a nursery
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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.