Japan – Day 7

Dave works out daily. I haven’t really been keeping up with a workout routine but when in Rome… or Japan (as the case may be), I got outside and did some various exercises in the improvised street gym that Dave put together. He improvised deep push-ups between two picnic tables, did pull-ups on tree branches, and used cinder blocks as free weights. As we were working out, Dave noticed some new mushrooms growing in his backyard. Based on the visual characteristics — specifically the thick, bulbous stalk and the rounded, brownish cap — he figures it’s a type of bolete, possibly a King Bolete (also known as a porcini or Boletus edulis). These mushrooms are known for their stout stems and spongy pores underneath the cap instead of gills. The temptation existed to eat them up but we weren’t certain enough about the identification to risk it. Dave introduced me to the clothing shop Uniqlo, which, once I got started, led me to pick out basically a whole new wardrobe. The thing that appealed…