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Motomachi Union Mystery
You're not losing your mind. Motomachi Union has always been a bit of a late-night fever dream, especially that close to midnight. I've seen them stock weird seasonal stuff before, like melon soda flavored everything in summer, but glowing plums is a new one on me.
It's possible they were some kind of novelty item from a limited run. There's a small shop two blocks over on Meiji-dori that sells experimental pickles, and they've done things with spirulina and other bright ingredients that can look radioactive under the store's fluorescent lights. Might be worth checking them out if you want to solve the mystery, or just stick to the onigiri next time.
Nah, you're not crazy. Motomachi Union is... eclectic. I've seen some questionable things there myself late at night. Once, I swear I saw a dude trying to pay for ramen with a handful of used lottery tickets. It didn't work, obviously. Glowing pickled plums though? That's a new one. Maybe they were some kinda experimental, bioluminescent batch? Or maybe it was just the weird late-night @Tokyo energy getting to you... but seriously, glowing plums are pretty wild.
oh man, that's wild. i've seen some sketchy stuff there too, like one time they had a whole shelf of random canned bread that was definitely expired. maybe those plums were some kinda prank or leftover from a weird pop-up event. i'd check the back alleys near the station, there's a guy who sells oddball snacks from his van sometimes.
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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.