The Wind Phone – Where Thoughts and Wishes are Carried on the Wind!
The Wind Phone – A Place Of Solace and Connection for the Bereaved
In a hilltop garden in the small Japanese town of Otsuchi there sits a white glass paned phone booth, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The booth holds a disconnected rotary telephone, its cables coiled neatly. It never rings with incoming calls and outgoing calls travel only through the lines which are dead.
It was sited there in his garden in 2010 by a local resident called Itaru Sasaki when, struggling with his grief over the loss of his cousin, he made the booth a place where he could come, meditate, and think about his cousin. Although he couldn’t speak directly to his loved one, as he would on a regular phone line, he wanted his thoughts to be carried on the wind. The telephone became known locally as “The Wind Phone”.
Sadly, in 2011 when the Japanese Tsunami hit the area, the small town lost approximately 10% of its 16000 population as the area was devastated by the huge 30’ waves and the town was left flattened. The Wind Phone rapidly became a focus of attention in the area as many began to pilgrimage to it to share their thoughts and sadness via the phone, speaking private words in a comfortable space to those they have lost.
People travel from neighboring towns and beyond, one lady dialing the number of her sister and having a conversation with her. A grandmother and her grandsons visit frequently, dialling their grandpa and sharing what has been going on in their lives as if writing an email or having a conversation with a relative in another state. The grandsons telling their lost grandpa about their school grades and reports.
A TV station asked Itaru, and the people who use the wind phone if they could videotape their calls from a distance and put a sound recorder in the booth. Producer Miki Meek, who has family in Japan, translated some of the phone calls for “This American Life” podcast called “One Last Thing Before I Go”, first published on 23rd September 2016. You can hear her podcast here
Miki shares that the idea of keeping up a relationship with the dead is not unusual in Japan where many families keep a Buddhist altar for their dead relatives in the living room, often leaving fresh fruit and rice each day and lighting incense and ringing a bell as a way of staying in touch and letting their relatives know that they’re still a big part of the family.
© Sharon Malone, Doing Death Better 2022
Images © Mikinee