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Here are four photos of summer in Japan, with greenery and beautiful clouds but scorching heat and some humidity, at Nagaoka Tenmangū in Kyōto Prefecture.

I've been skirting close to heatstroke by continuing to exercise outdoors daily. Usually I exercise my arms and run a little, then cool off indoors and drink a lot of water. In Japan we can eat a well-balanced diet, and I avoid junk food, so I stay slim. But exercise has all sorts of benefits, and is perhaps more important than what we eat. It's an oft-repeated but mistaken generality that we lose 10% of muscle mass every year as we get older. That doesn't add up. My muscles have gotten bigger as I exercise more, and I'll be 75 soon. There was also a sense of inevitability about weakening, but newer research shows that exercise can increase the ability of our cells to generate energy. I can confirm that as well.

How is aging for you?

#Japan #Japanese #religion #nature #travel #summer #heatstroke #exercise #diet #lotus #culture