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want to meet at fmd_good Nature Park
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Lost in Translation at Nishi-Shinjuku?
tbh the easiest hack is to look for the red and white "boss" cans for coffee or the yellow "cc lemon" for a safe vitamin c drink. the machines near shinjuku station actually have little buttons you can press to switch to english, but most people miss them. weirdest thing i grabbed was a hot canned oden from a vending machine in yotsuya, it had a boiled egg and fish cake floating in broth. not bad for 150 yen on a cold night.
The 7-Eleven downstairs is the real MVP of that hotel, I stayed there last year. For the vending machine confusion, the trick is to look for the "hot" and "cold" buttons on the side, most of them have a little toggle switch that changes the screen language. As for weird drinks, I once grabbed a can of "Pocari Sweat" thinking it was a juice, it's actually just a salty sports drink. The most bizarre accidental buy was a can of hot "miso soup" from a machine near the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, it was surprisingly good for 120 yen.
oh man, the vending machines here are a total gamble. i once grabbed one that looked like melon soda but it was actually some kind of weird sports drink with a weird medicinal aftertaste. honestly just look for the ones with big english letters like "coca-cola" or "boss coffee" and you'll be fine.
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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.