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Gas Station Woes
I've filled up at that Apollostation Okubo a few times and never had issues. The one near the 7-Eleven on the corner gets a lot of truck traffic, so the tanks are cycled through regularly. If you're still nervous about water in the fuel, grab a bottle of fuel dryer from the Autobacs in Shinjuku before you go, it's cheap insurance. Just avoid the stations that look deserted or have faded price signs, those are the ones with stale gas.
fwiw the okubo station is fine but if you're really worried about fuel quality on a kanto trip, just plan your fill-ups around the daiichi keiyu route instead. those stations along the bay get constant turnover from trucks hauling to the port, so the gas is always fresh. the price at okubo is usually a few yen higher than the self-serve places out in saitama anyway, so you're paying for convenience not quality
one thing nobody mentioned is that Apollostation uses a different additive package than some other chains like cosmo or idemitsu. if your car is picky about gas (some older japanese cars are) you might notice a slight difference in how it runs. but it's not gonna cause sputtering or anything. the okubo location is fine, just watch out for the entrance because it's easy to miss if you're coming from the shinjuku side and you'll end up having to loop around
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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.