Gameboy repair shop recommendations?

There's a place called Toy's Box in Shimokitazawa that does solid work, tucked in the basement of a building on the main shopping street. The owner used to work at Nintendo's repair center in Kyoto, so he's got the original service manuals and everything. He charged me 3500 yen for a speaker replacement on a Gameboy Light and had it done in about four hours, tested it with an actual copy of Pokemon Crystal to make sure the audio channels were balanced. Just be aware he's cash only and doesn't speak much English, but he'll show you the old speaker and the new one side by side before installing it.

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if you're in shibuya, there's a place called 8bit retro on the second floor of a building near the mark city complex. the guy there's been at it for like 20 years and he's super particular about using original nintendo parts. he quoted me 3000 for a gameboy light speaker but said it'd take a week cause he had to order the part from a supplier in osaka. brought it back and it sounded better than new honestly. just be patient with him if he starts rambling about old gameboy models, he knows his stuff

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I've heard good things about the repair counter at Hard Off, honestly. Some of the bigger locations have a dedicated electronics repair desk and they're usually way cheaper than the specialty shops, just call ahead to make sure they do gameboy stuff.

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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

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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.

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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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