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Shinjuku Banking Woes
couple things nobody mentioned yet: if you're doing a wire transfer over $10k equivalent, they'll make you fill out a tax form too even for personal transfers. the chuo branch has these little privacy booths on the second floor where you can do the paperwork without everyone watching, ask the greeter for "privacy counter" they'll know what u mean. also the atm lobby has a coin counting machine that prints a receipt with your account number on it, grab that before you queue up because the teller will ask for it anyway and it saves them having to type it in
pro tip: if you're going during lunch hour, skip the starbucks and hit the basement food court in the shinjuku sumitomo building across the street instead, way better onigiri and they have a proper seating area. the tablet kiosk trick is solid but also check if your home bank has a preferred correspondent bank in japan, mizuho will move faster if you can hand them their own internal routing details. i've done three transfers through that branch and the longest wait was when i showed up at 11:45 on a friday, took over an hour. every other time was under 40 minutes
honestly just brace for the paperwork marathon, theyll prob make you fill out a form in japanese even if the teller speaks english. bring a copy of your residence card too, they always ask for it even if it's not technically needed for transfers. the wait isnt that bad if you go right when they open at 9, like 20 mins max at the chuo branch
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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.