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Any musicians willing to befriend an American musician?
There's a solid little open mic scene in Shimokitazawa if you haven't checked it out yet. Three Steps and Club Que both do regular sessions where people bring Ableton setups and loopers alongside the usual guitars. The crowd tends to be pretty chill and genuinely curious about production techniques, so it's a good spot to meet people who actually want to talk about sampling field recordings rather than just gear.
if you're into sampling natural sounds you'd probably dig the scene around Nakameguro, there's a tiny studio space called Goat that does monthly listening parties where people bring their field recording projects. i met a guy there who built a whole set around recorded rain on different surfaces around the station. also the Tokyo Ableton User Group has a slack channel that's way more active than the discord stuff, they do workshops every few months at a shared space in Shinjuku
honestly you should hit up a show at Forestlimit in Shibuya sometime, that place is basically a playground for people who do exactly what you're describing with Ableton and found sounds. the crowd skews more experimental electronic so you'll find folks who actually get sampling train station announcements or street noise and turning it into rhythm. also if you're on discord the Tokyo Producers server is pretty active, they do little meetups at cafes in Koenji where people just show each other their live sets and give feedback
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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.