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Lawson's Late Night Ramen?
The hot water dispensers are just industrial-grade units that Lawson maintains pretty seriously across all their stores. They're programmed to stay at a consistent temperature, and the staff check them during their overnight restocking shifts. If you're ever in that area again at 2 AM and want something fresher than cup noodles, the FamilyMart on Yasukuni-dori has a decent selection of onigiri and fried chicken that they keep stocked through the night.
Yeah the water stays hot because those tanks are basically insulated thermoses with a heating element, they're designed to run nonstop. A friend who managed a Lawson in Yotsuya told me they only drop about 2 degrees overnight even if nobody refills them. If you're in the Shinjuku Gyoen area at that hour again, walk over to the Doraku on Meiji-dori instead, they do a decent tonkotsu ramen from a vending machine until 4 AM and it's way better than cup noodles.
Those dispensers are actually pretty standard across Japanese convenience stores, they use a pressurized hot water tank that keeps the water at a steady 90 degrees or so. I've been told by a friend who works at a Lawson near Shinjuku station that the overnight staff just make sure the tank doesn't run dry during the restock rounds. If you want something that feels a bit more like a real meal at that hour, the 7-Eleven on Gaien-nishi-dori has a hot food counter with croquettes and korokke that they keep warm through the night.
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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.