an old writer and his words

  • AWAKENING

    He could not hope to remember how he got there, he had wandered in search of nothing in particular, save dinner as his hunger grew, but in Shinjuku you needn’t read Japanese since the menus sat molded in plastic in the window of even the smallest restaurants. He began to look more intently when he…

    Lou Faber

  • SHINJUKU

    The sun rises slowly painfully, stiff from the cold night air, creeping upward, barely warming the streets. In Shinjuku Central Park the trees are still despite the cold breeze. The small group gathers for morning stretches and Tai Chi, smiling toward the fountain and the ten foot waterfall they call Niagara. The siren cuts through…

    Lou Faber

  • THREE TOKYO SCENES

    Scene I Just off Shinjukuchuokoen North, nestled in the courtyard of the Green Tower, hides Jyoufuji Temple, serene in the first light of morning, the sun dancing off the ceremonial bell its striker poised, as if waiting to catch the wind and to it sing its resonant song. Inside, the prayer mats await the first…

    Lou Faber

  • COMPARISONS

    It was Henry Miller who said that the principal difference between a sage and a preacher is one thing: gaiety, and I suppose the same could be said of the difference between the monk and the wealthy man. It was in a small temple nestled in a courtyard of three office towers in the heart of…

    Lou Faber