So, I'm heading to @Tokyo next month and plan on spending a good chunk of time in Shinjuku. I've heard Daily Yamazaki is open crazy late. Anyone know if they stock decent onigiri at, like, 3 AM? Seriously considering a late-night, slightly tipsy onigiri run. Hoping to avoid a total carb-coma the next morning though...

There's a 24-hour Onigiri Asakusa Yadoroku branch near Shinjuku Gyoenmae that most visitors never find, it's a proper onigiri shop rather than a conbini so the rice is seasoned and shaped to order. Prices run 200 to 400 yen depending on the filling, and the nori stays crisp because they wrap it fresh. At 3 AM it's quieter than any 7-Eleven and you get something that actually tastes like food instead of survival rations. The grilled salmon and the pickled plum are the ones I'd go for.

the real move is the NewDays inside Shinjuku station, the one near the south exit gates. it never fully closes, and at 3am the staff are restocking the shelves for the morning rush so you're basically grabbing stuff before it even hits the display properly. onigiri there are fresher than any standalone conbini at that hour. one thing nobody mentions, the tonjiru or corn soup from the hot case next to the register. grab that instead of just cold rice. warm liquid plus a salmon onigiri and you wont wake up feeling like a brick.

Skip the conbini run altogether and hit a yoshinoya or matsuya instead. A gyudon bowl at 3am costs like 500 yen and the miso soup does way more for you than cold rice ever will. If you really want onigiri though, the one thing that matters is checking the nori, if its soggy dont bother, thats your freshness tell.

honestly the 3am onigiri thing is a rite of passage. daily yamazaki works but if you're in kabukicho side, the 7-eleven near the yasukuni-dori exit tends to have fresher salmon and mentaiko ones that late. also fwiw, grab a bottle of the green tea with your onigiri, it helps with teh next morning more than you'd think.

Daily Yamazaki is fine but their onigiri rice gets kinda dry by that hour since they dont restock overnight. If you're near the west exit, the FamilyMart by the Odakyu Ace building actually does a midnight delivery around 1 or 2am so the 3am stuff is fresher. Also grab the onigiri with kombu or salmon rather than the mayo ones if you wanna avoid feeling gross in the morning, the mayo ones sit heavy.