It is easy to pick out dancer Firak di Bello in a crowd. Slight of build and all skin and bone, his shaven head mirrors the sun. Equally distinctive are his eyes (as wary as they are warm and all-seeing), the hawklike nose (which leads the way) and a gait that bobs rather than glides.
We meet in Shibuya but then have to wait until 11 a.m. for the best coffee shops to open -- places to sit in peace and quiet rather than paying to promote a certain image. By which time I know that Firak is not his real name, but one acquired while in India and meaning "search."
Di Bello sounds Italian, and is Italian, from the south. Ages 1 to 7 were "golden years," but the house where he grew up -- and indeed that lifestyle -- are long dead and gone. Yes, he's as sad as he sounds when he talks of that time.