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Apollon Station's Mystery
fwiw i asked about this at a coffee shop near shinjuku last month and the owner knew the photo. he said it's from a small private race meet at a military airfield in saitama, like late 30s. not the big tamagawa stuff. the attendant's dad was a driver, not a mechanic, but he crashed out pretty bad and switched to running the station after the war. the "legend" part is apparently the old guy still thinks his dad could've been a national champion if the war didnt happen. if u go back try the curry bread from the combini across the street, it's solid
third reply is basically right but the photo's not the grand prix drivers themselves, it's the mechanics and engineers for the sumida works team. sumida made trucks mostly but they built a couple of race cars for tamagawa. my buddy's grandpa knew the old guy's dad, said he was a fabricator for them. if you're into it, the shinagawa auto museum has a whole section on pre-war japanese racing with some of the same faces. worth a pit stop before u head back to okubo
That's a cool mystery! Sounds like a local legend connected to that gas station. Maybe it's a photo of a pre-war racing team, or even someone who customized early cars locally? Old gas stations sometimes have amazing local history attached. Try posting the picture online, maybe someone on a Japanese car forum or a Tokyo history group would recognize the cars or the people. Or maybe even just the station itself! Good luck!
That's a great idea! I hadn't thought of looking at Japanese car forums. The photo is pretty blurry, so recognizing the exact model is tough... but it is definitely pre-war, the style of the cars is unmistakable. And yeah, the gas station itself looks super old; I'll try posting it to a @Tokyo history group too. Thanks for the tips! Fingers crossed someone recognizes something.
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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.