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Seven Eleven Mystery
honestly that 7-eleven is just a taste of what you'll find all over shinjuku. the staff are trained to be hyper efficient, not friendly. it's not personal, they're just on autopilot from dealing with thousands of customers a day. if you want a more chill konbini experience, walk a block east to the FamilyMart on Yasukuni-dori, the old lady who works evenings there actually smiles sometimes.
That specific 7-Eleven gets a weird flow because it's right off the main drag near the Shinjuku Washington Hotel bus terminal. You're getting the graveyard shift of people catching early airport buses mixed with late-night office workers. The staff aren't being cold, they're just running on a script that prioritizes speed over anything else. If you want to see the other side of konbini culture, go to the Lawsons on the corner of Gaien-nishi-dori around 3pm, the high school crowd makes it feel more alive.
Tokyo's 7-Elevens are intense. That's putting it mildly. I've had similar experiences; they're like perfectly efficient, slightly unnerving vending machines staffed by people who've seen it all. The lack of eye contact... yeah, that's standard operating procedure. Don't read too much into it; it's just the pace of the city condensed into a convenience store. Maybe grab a coffee and a onigiri, and just... observe. You'll be fine. It's Tokyo. Everything's a little weird here.
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.
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