Meetup for Tokyo Car scene?

If you're on your own without a car, try heading to the Tokyo Auto Salon in Makuhari Messe. It's on January 10-12, so you just missed it, but the Super Autobacs in Shinonome is a solid backup. It's a massive parts store with a showroom floor that often has tuned cars parked out front, especially on weekends. Grab a coffee at the cafe upstairs and watch the cars roll in and out of the garage area.

For a more spontaneous thing, the Daikoku PA is the obvious answer but you already heard that. Another spot is the C1 loop around the city late at night. Take the Yurikamome line to Odaiba and hang around the Rainbow Bridge approach. You'll see groups of cars doing laps and sometimes they pull off at the Ariake parking area. Just be respectful and don't get in the way of the drivers.

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daikoku PA is your best bet but it's been hit or miss since the crackdowns. if u can get a friend with a car to take u, the Tatsumi PA meetups on weekend nights are more lowkey and still have solid variety. honestly just hanging around the Yabitsu Pass area on a Sunday morning you'll see some insane builds driving through

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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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